Band Verse
by Mustsleep
Summary: Being a singer for a band isn't easy - include people snapping after week 2 of a 6 month tour, hiding a notebook and being accused of world domination and the whole situation becomes a lot more hectic… at least mentally. AU
1. Chapter 1

_**Well this is my new story: AU/present day and this idea sprung from an email message to myself (odd/creepy but it makes sense under the circumstances) and I hope you enjoy. Yes, all characters are OC because they obviously aren't ninja and haven't killed people (or massacred their clan). _

_**Everyone please give a round of applause to Paranoid (.) Princess, who beta-read for me! **(any mistakes now in the writing are soley my responsibility and are from my final add-ins before the story was posted)_

_Well, I don't own Naruto. And I hope you enjoy. _

_Mustsleep Z.z**_

**Band Verse: **

Itachi watched the girl beside him curiously. Well, technically she wasn't beside him. She was on the other side of the Plexiglas window, which was quite a feat because he was three-stories high. She wasn't even looking into the window. She was, instead, looking down at the crowd below; most likely in search of someone.

The situation was odd to say the least. He believed her to be one of his more daring fan-girls when he saw her on the ledge of the third story window. But the fact that she had given a bland, if not pissed, look at their group had gotten them all curious. Her back was now turned to them and her pink hair looked like chewed gum against the clear medium. Her fingers pressed against the glass, it was possible she had figured out she was scared of heights.

Or not.

Her index finger was tapping against the window in obvious irritation.

Kisame was the only one who had found the situation hilarious. The blue man was currently rolling on the ground laughing about how they'd "finally found a girl that didn't rip their shirts off in from of them," or idolize them, to paraphrase.

Outside, coarse yells penetrated the thick layer of glass. More than likely the muffled tones were asking for an encore or an announcement of another concert; it had been two days since the last concert had ended. Suddenly, a loud, obnoxious voice broke above all the others. "Shut the *&* up! Where the ^%#$ is Ino Yamanaka?"

Silence greeted her on one side of the Plexiglas; on the other Kisame began howling louder. -"She shut them up! How cool is that!"

A 'meep' sounded from below which the band assumed to be the reply.

"Meet me in the plaza in ten minutes or I won't be driving you home!" the girl snarled from her position on the ledge three stories above ground.

The unusual silence continued.

"You can now return to your 'fan-actions'!"

And they did.

Kisame was now bent over and turning a very dark red color which was worrisome because he was light blue to begin with and should have at least turned purple.

"Her voice carries nicely..." Sasori, the violinist and composer, drawled out in a bored tone.

"Hmm," Pein, the manager, nodded his head as he glanced at his wife, "she would make a good announcer."

Itachi smirked as he watched the hands now scrape against the window, as though she had claws that could penetrate the glass. The fact that she was three stories up finally seemed to sink in. Itachi smirked. "That's if she doesn't die first."

**Friction**

She did not like them, and for the most part, she hoped they would not like her. But she needed a job to pay for medical school and their wages and benefits were too high to say no. They were giving her a place to stay, food to eat, and free rent which included electricity and water. All she had to do was some chores around the house, and then go up on stage and scream at people to shut up.

It seemed like a job she had been created for. How hard could it possibly be? All she had to do was get angry a little bit before the show and screaming came naturally to her. She used to scream at Naruto and Sasuke all the time before they left. Before they left her...

They'd been almost inseparable, then a manager saw their talent and decided an 'all boy band' was a better seller. Out the window she went.

Not exactly like that though. They'd talked it over and she'd given in. She'd do anything for them. She'd give anything for their dreams_, anything for his dream._

Naruto called once a month or wrote a letter. Sasuke sent an email every two months if she were lucky. But she understood. They were now top artists and very busy. She promised she'd remain their biggest fan.

Yet, now she was their biggest fan working for an opposing band. If she was honest with herself, that was why she didn't want to like them or for them to like her. It felt like she was betraying her best friends. Of course, there was always a little voice in her head reminding her that they were the ones that were traitors.

She knocked on the dark red door before her. Through that door was her new home, where she would be spending time with her best friends' rivals on the music market. Sakura glanced at her car or the 'Beatle Bug', as she liked to call it, which looked to be in the last stages of life with all of its paint peeling off. Inside the small compact space were all of her belongings, excluding furniture - not that she had much - because that was promised to be provided.

The door opened to reveal a tall, pale skinned man.

Sakura was immediately taken back by how much he reminded her of Sasuke. No doubt this was Sasuke's brother, the one Sasuke swore to defeat in.

Guilt over came her once again. She was going to be harming her friends, best friends, by aiding these people. But she needed a job that actually _paid _decent money. She had been working two part-time jobs at a coffee stand and grocery store and they weren't going to get her into medical school or anywhere, for that matter. She hoped beyond hope that her boys would understand.

"Welcome." The voice was low and familiar. She'd heard it on the radio.

"Thank you. I'm Sakura," she extended her hand. She crossed the fingers of her other hand behind her back as she hoped that the people weren't as cruel as Sasuke had led her to believe. If that were the case then she'd given up her apartment for no reason.

"Itachi." He took her hand and shook it gently. "It's good to finally meet you."

He glanced over her head at her car and her boxes that filled the windows. "Let's get your stuff inside."

Itachi poked his head through the doorway. "Kisame."

The man turned back and smiled at Sakura. He placed his other hand on her out stretched arm. "I hope you come to enjoy your stay here."

She smiled, not knowing what to say because she didn't want his statement to come true. She'd made up her mind to not enjoy herself in this new place and there was no way she could it explain that to him. She really didn't want to betray the ones she loved, at least on a conscious level; perhaps subconsciously this was her plan all along. No. She wouldn't think like that.

A large blue man appeared behind Itachi, looked down, and then burst into laughter. "You're the window girl! Pein didn't say he hired the window girl!"

Sakura glared up at the man. "I'm the what?" Had they been stalking her at work? She'd only cleaned the windows once when some kid vomited and spewed stuff all over. Did they think it was funny? She'd caught the kid's flu after that too.

"Ooo, she definitely has a temper."

Sakura shut her mouth before she got herself fired on the very first day and found herself without a home.

"Look she's turning red. This is great; I thought we'd never see her again. Now we can get entertainment twenty-four seven even if Pein shuts down the cable."

"Bags, Kisame," Itachi sighed as Sakura's loose hand tightened into a fist behind her back.

"Yeah, yeah." The man began walking to the car.

Sakura took several deep breaths; she couldn't lose her job. This had to work out.

Itachi smirked as he began rubbing her hand, which he had yet to let go of.

It took Sakura thirty seconds to realize what the man was doing. She blinked, looked down at their hands, looked up, and then blinked again.

"Let go pervert!" She yanked her hand out of his grip, stumbling backwards onto the edge of the staircase.

Itachi caught her before she fell, pulling her into his chest.

"Let go! You're like twenty years older than me, that's gross!"

Kisame burst into laughter as he leaned against her car, slightly tipping the vehicle.

"Twenty?" Itachi asked hugging the squirming girl tighter to his chest.

She paused to look up at him. "Yeah, you look old."

Itachi let her go and started laughing. His hands shot to his mouth while he tried to calm himself down.

She stared in awe at the laughing male Uchiha. She'd never heard Sasuke laugh in her entire life; she might have heard him snort but nothing to such a caliber. Itachi's laughter actually had a sense of peacefulness to it too.

Itachi raised an eyebrow when he noticed she was still staring. He leaned into her face. "Want an autograph?" He winked playfully.

"No." Sakura but then turned back. "Actually yes; after you die I'd like to sell it, so be very ambiguous to who it is addressed to."

Itachi froze before he started laughing again.

Sakura turned towards her car before she let a tiny smile grace her lips. It had been awhile since she'd gotten to tease anyone. It was like being back with her boys. Her smile dropped, her boys…

Her eyes focused in on the blue-turning-purple giant who was banging his fist on her car, making it bounce. That would do. ""I thought you were supposed to be helping me with my stuff not breaking it."

"Oh," man gasped for breath between snorts, "-sorry." He opened the door and pulled out the first box. Immediately his upper body bent over and the man heaved the box so his forearms supported some of the weight. "What the heck did you put in this?"

The woman rolled her eyes before snatching the box from between his arms. "Girl stuff."

Itachi couldn't hide his smirk as he watched the petite woman bound up the driveway with several boxes. She'd picked them all up like they were plates of sushi. Her lips twitched as she saw Itachi's smirk, and she quickened her pace as she walked past him.

Itachi then counted to ten. She'd never been in the house before.

"Where is my room?"

Kisame grunted from the weight of the medium size box he was carrying. "I'll show you when I get in there."

The blue man paused, balancing the box on the handrail of the front deck. "You know, Itachi, you shouldn't rub people the wrong way."

"Hn."

Kisame sighed. "She just got here and already you're creating friction."

Itachi smiled. "No, I am just opening her mind to the possibility of being on our side."

"What side? There are no sides." Kisame raised his eyes brows, questioning Itachi's sanity.

"I know that. But she's Lightening Foxes fan-club president; and to her there are sides."

"So she's that web designer Konan and Deidre wanted to hire?"

"That would be correct." Itachi nodded. It had taken Pein several months and a large sum of money to pay multiple hackers to find the girl; the man obviously didn't believe there were ethical limits when it came to getting something his wife wanted.

"Nice, so Pein's killed two birds with one stone."

"She hasn't been hired for web designer yet." Itachi warned.

"Ah…" Kisame nodded understanding, "I'll keep it under wraps. Who else knows?"

"Just keep it from Deidre and Konan. Pein doesn't want to disappoint them."

"You got it." Kisame lifted the box back up as Itachi began walking towards the car to help with the load.

"Kisame, are you having a tough time carrying my easy bake oven?" A voice called out from inside.

Kisame snorted. "Easy-bake-oven my _."


	2. Backbones, Dignity and Accusations

**Band Verse**

_**My plan for Band Verse is to have a timeline, but there will be a couple of 'shorts' at the end whose placement can be put just about anywhere. The 'chapter-ish' __**Accusation**__, located at the end is one of those. Accusation is probably the real reason I began to work on Band Verse. (I had already done the three story window scene but was going to add it to: A Sweet Release.)_

_Anyways, I know some parts are not funny, but this wasn't supposed to be a full comedy. And yes poor Sakura, but hey she's got an awesome job (which will come out more in the next chapter/update). _

_I hope you enjoy reading Chapter 2 of Band Verse with the following clips: __**Backbone, Dignity, and Accusation**__._

_**Edit 5-18-11 Thank you Geniusly-Unique, the names have been changed.**_

_Z.z - Reviews are always appreciated; whether to express joy or to critique. **_

**Backbone**

Sakura was surprised at how down to earth all of the band members seemed to be… well, perhaps down to earth wasn't the correct phrase. Down to earth implied that they were reasonable, non-narcissistic, ordinary people and they definitely weren't that. What she meant by down to earth was the way they welcomed and treated her like one of their own.

In fact, the oldest Uchiha of the group was beyond narcissistic and was anything but humble. Kisame was a giant blue man and the only way ordinary could be related to him was if it was tattooed onto his skin. Sasori had tendencies to emerge from shadows with his hand-made manikins and practice ventriloquism. When it came to Kakuzu and money the word reasonable was never uttered. Hidan practically worshipped his pet hairless cat, Jashin. Deidara was a home decorator on steroids. Konan had a weird obsession with collecting paper and Tobi was a twenty-two year old man who acted like a five-year old. Then there was Pein… and that man had issues with control.

No, they were not down to earth people. Not at all. But Sakura was happy with that. It made her appear normal. It was also nice to have people close to her and she soon found out that with each passing day their odd habits, or ritualistic chants, were slowly growing on her. She hadn't realized what was happening until she finally got a letter from Naruto and didn't open it until that night, when normally it would have been the first thing she would have done.

She summed it up to being too busy to be lonely. For once again, she'd found a makeshift family that kept her busy. So busy, in fact, that the normal plagues of everyday life such as thoughts of medical school and snotty ex-best friend text messages no longer bothered her or came upon her mind.

Every day was an adventure of being a mediator between fights, doing art projects with Deidara, creating new expense sheets for Kakuzu, taking Tobi shopping, looking at new clothes designs with Konan.

Everything seemed perfect. It was a life that she could only describe as 'full'. She didn't think anything could bring her down from such a wonderful high.

That is until Naruto's fourth letter arrived. She'd read it while waiting for the group to get out of a recording session. It announced that Sasuke and him were coming home to celebrate Mikoto's birthday, which was being hosted by Itachi; which was putting "the bas_ in a _ mood."

She'd only told Naruto that she'd gotten a new job, not where or with whom. Her mail always went to her post office box.

There was only one thing she could do. Ask Itachi to shut his trap at the so called "Birthday Party" and then hide in her room.

Sakura sighed easing her back against the seat outside the recording studio door. She rubbed her forehead; she could come clean too.

Pein looked up from his business laptop. "Everything ok?"

Sakura blinked. It was odd for him to ask about anyone else. "No. I told Naruto I got a new job but I didn't tell him I was working with The Red Clouds—they'll probably never talk to me—and now they are coming back because Itachi's hosting a birthday party and he's obviously going to tell them about me—then Sasuke will go ballistic and then they'll be angry with me and demand that I quick—but I want this job and need the money so I'll say no—then they'll never be friends with me again." She gasped for breath.

Pein raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know Itachi was hosting a party. For whom will it be held for?"

Sakura stared at him speechless, was that the only thing he got out of it? She shook her head deciding not to ask and just answer his question, "Mikoto's; his mother's. "

"Ah," the man looked back down and the door opened.

"Are we done for the day?" Kisame asked stretching, touching the ceiling.

"Yes," Pein replied closing his laptop. His eyes then focused upon Itachi.

"Itachi, I did not know you were hosting a birthday party for your mother."

Itachi stared at the man blankly for several moments. "I did not know either."

Pein turned to Sakura, "Why did you tell me Itachi was hosting a party?"

Sakura snapped the paper in the air. "Because that's what Naruto said was making Sasuke throw a –"

The paper was snatched from her grasp at the mention of Sasuke. The onxy eyes scanned the paper. Sakura opened her mouth to demand it back, when Itachi let the paper fall from his fingers. The man then flipped out his phone.

"Mother," the man sounded irritated. There was a pause before his eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, mom."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, mommy." He grounded his teeth. "Why have I been told that I am the person who will be hosting your party?"

..

"And when were you planning to let me know," he began to pace.

..

"You can't invite yourself and others over to a house that people live in and—"

..

"Mom they are business associates not—"

..

"Alright they are my friends, but it doesn't matter what I call them; they don't know you and yet you invite yourself into their house."

..

"Again mom, they don't know you. I doubt they would want to come to a stranger's birthday party even if it were somewhere else."

..

"Yes, I'm sorry I should have introduced you sooner…"

..

"No, I'm not sure a birthday party is the best place to make introductions."

..

"But—"

..

"Yes mother*… Sorry, mom." The phone slammed shut and Itachi glared down at it.

"You just got owned by your 'mommy'," Hidan laughed.

"You obviously haven't met her!" Itachi snarled, and then paused. He smirked evilly. "But don't worry, you soon will; she's holding her birthday at our place next Saturday."

Z.z

And so Saturday came.

Sakura smiled as she taped the last streamer up. "All done?" she asked Deidara.

"Yep-un."

Kisame had finished baking earlier and was now just putting on the finishing touches.

The doorbell rang and Itachi opened it; letting in Mikoto, her husband, the Lightening Fox band members and a thinly clad woman.

"My baby!" Itachi was pounced on by the over exuberant woman. Itachi gave her a quick squeeze before setting the small woman back down. His dad nodded at him in greeting and his brother stared him down.

"Sasuke," Mikoto reprimanded, "introduce your little friends to Itachi."

Saskue sighed and Naruto took over introductions.

"I'm Naruto, this is Kiba, that's Juugo and the guy with the bushy brows is Lee."

Itachi turned his gaze to the woman, who was turning a shade that was close to her vibrant red hair.

"I'm Karin, a new singer for Lightning Fox."

Mikoto turned in surprise. She thought the girl was a girlfriend. "What happened to the Sakura girl, the one with pink hair; she used to have the prettiest voice."

"Umm." Naruto sidestepped nervously, "Orochimaru, our manager, thought Karin would be a better fit."

"Oh, really?"

"Of course," Karin smiled with a giggle, "Orochimaru knows best."

Itachi turned and Deidara raised his one viewable eyebrow. Sakura was gone. Itachi noticed the kitchen door swinging.

"Please excuse me, I'll just be a second then I'll make introductions."

Itachi slipped through the door and quietly whispered. "Sakura I didn't know you sang—" He stopped at the sound of sobs.

He watched the pink haired woman cling to the very surprised Kisame.

Itachi dragged a hand through his hair. He was an idiot, he needed to grow a backbone around his mother. If he had, there wouldn't be a girl crying in his kitchen.

_/ continued because you would hate me if I didn't :P_

**Dignity**

She had escaped to her room and had stayed there the remainder of the party. It hurt. Her whole heart felt as though it had been ripped to shreds. The knowledge hurt, but not being told hurt more. Naruto's letter hadn't mentioned it, or even suggested it. He probably wanted to spare her. Or tell her in person.

She opened her internet explorer and opened Lightning Fox's official fan site. Nothing mentioned a new member, of course, it wouldn't though; she was the site's creator back when they were in high school. She was the designer and president. She made the 'news' posts.

The fact that she hadn't know was cutting her deep. She'd been ignoring the site because of her new job. She wasn't the president they needed. Naruto had even failed to give her a clue about the new singer.

They'd traded her in. Maybe it was time she returned the favor. Closing down the site was a childish idea. She would hand it over; it wasn't like she'd been able to give the site the proper attention it needed.

She 'passed the torch' to her second in command, Akumi88, before lowering herself to 'member' standards.

She was done.

She turned off the screen and laid on her bed. Maybe it would all be a bad dream.

Z.z

She awoke to 'Love in the Streets' being sung by Naruto's voice. She groaned. She was so warm and comfortable; why did the idiot have to call?

The noise got louder as it got closer to her ear. Sakura blinked as the phone dropped next to her head.

Ignoring the fact that she did not reach for the phone and it moved, she flipped the phone open and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" her voice sounded scratchy for some reason.

"Sakura, Hinata just called me."

Sakura shot up. "Is she ok?"

"Yeah but are—"

Sakura turned to investigate the movement beside her.

"—you?"

Sakura blinked when she met onyx eyes. Her eyes then followed his arm, which was securely wrapped around her waist.

"Sak-?"

"Pevert!" Sakura screeched slamming Itachi in the chest with an open palm.

"Sakura I'm not trying to—"

"How _ long have you been in my bed!"

"Sakura did someone steal your woman dignity?" Great, Naruto had her on speakerphone. But the woman was too busy to answer Lee's question.

She slammed the man in the chest again before he reached out and plucked the phone from her grasp. He shut the flip, ending the phone conversation.

She was drawing back to punch him again before he pulled her into a tight hug against his chest. She pulled out of it.

"I was just checking to see if you were feeling ok." Then he'd gotten distracted by a photo album which held pictures of his adorable brother, then how comfortable her bed was, then by how smoother her hair slipped through his fingers. Then by how her smell of sweet cranberries infiltrated his senses, then how warm her body was. Then by how cute she looked curled against him. Then he'd fallen asleep…

She glared down at him. "And why would you do that?"

Itachi smiled, she was like a Pomeranian; so small yet completely energized against an opponent. "My guests were the ones that upset you."

Sakura froze as the memories from the other day washed over her. She let herself drop onto his chest. The phone started singing again.

It wasn't cute, Itachi sighed brushing a hand through her hair. He pulled her once again into a hug, this time she didn't resist.

"I don't understand," she mumbled, "I thought they were against having a girl in the band."

Itachi leaned in breathing in her scent. "Sasuke told me later that Karin is their manager's goddaughter."

She looped an arm around his waist and pulled herself closer to him.

Itachi rested his head on top of her's. This felt good. If only it was happening under different circumstances.

The door to the bedroom opened.

Immediately Itachi was yanked from the bed by his hair. "You've a mess to clean up downstairs." Konan snarled dragging him out of the room. She tossed him out the door then turned back. "You can continue to rest; today's your day off, sweetie."

Sakura laughed as the door slammed shut. Her head turned toward the singing phone. She didn't want to answer it, but now they thought something bad had happened to her.

Sakura sighed and opened her cell. "Hey."

"Sakura are you ok?—Your dignity as—Sakura I'll kill him for you!" Three cries and a 'hn' rang across the phone.

"I'm fine Kiba. My woman dignity is intact Lee. And there is no need to kill anybody."

"Are you sure? Do you want me to come over to your apartment, laugh in that high-pitch voice of yours if he's holding you hostage."

Sakura paused. She had forgotten to tell them about moving. "I'm sorry Naruto, I totally forgot to tell you. I moved and I was just fighting with one of my room-eh-house mates. "

"You moved! Where are you? Who are you with? Did you do a background check? How much is the rent? Is it a decent neighborhood? How-"

"Naruto, I'm fine and the place is wonderful."

"Tell me where you are!"

No, telling Naruto was not a good idea, especially over speaker phone. "Look Naruto I got to go," She blew into the phone, "I'm breaking up."

She ended the call and turned off the phone. Sakura sighed and slipped back under the covers. She probably just created a bigger mess for herself.

She nuzzeled her way into the still warm spot. She would let it go for a couple days, let them calm down.

Breathing, Sakura sighed in contentment. Peach, Sakura realized, Itachi smelled like a peach. She smiled. Not just any peach, a bed-and-bath lotion peach. She was in the mood for torturing someone too.

**Accusation (note: oc Sasori)**

She was out of her mind; that was obvious. After ripping apart the couch, DVD organizer, ottoman and Pein's personal desk, she entered the kitchen. The damage she left in her wake was indescribable.

No one had tried to stop her or even noticed what she was up too. Deidara was watching 'The Gumby Show' re-runs and even being tossed off the couch did nothing to disrupt his concentration on the T.V. Kakazu was listening to techno while counting money and was unable to hear her chaos. Sasori finally, after several loud booms, made his way to the living room.

The indifferent eyes took in the mess with only a slight glimmer of acknowledgement. The room had definitely changed. The damage resembled the time Tobi got a hold of an energy drink. He shook his head with disgust at the area that once held a desk, everyone would end up paying for it; Pein was going to be too pissed to even think straight, which meant that anyone within line of sight would become a kill target.

Sasori turned his head to the kitchen, where another loud boom echoed throughout the house. The red head peered through the doorway at the scene. Flour coated the entire entertainment kitchen. Every can and box, which had been stacked neatly in the pantry and cupboards yet now laid littered across the counters, also sported a nice coat of white powder.

Kisame would be pissed. If there was one thing he wanted it was a clean kitchen to cook in.

Sasori raised an eyebrow at the culprit who was currently digging underneath the sink and setting out cleaning supplies. The cleaning supplies were highly toxic and could certainly kill a medium sized hairless cat such as Jashin, the only thing Hidan loved in the world, or a 5 11 twenty-two year old teenager such as Tobi. To state it plainly: putting chemicals on the ground (or out in the open for that matter) was a very bad thing. They put child locks on the drug and cleaning supplies cabinets for a reason.

Sasori debated whether it would be worth his effort to try and stop her. She'd already pissed off Pein, no doubt if they even tried to put the desk back together (assuming they could find the pieces) he would know someone had touched the desk. In retribution for even 'touching' the desk he would put them on tour for eight months straight. Kisame would be pissed, but it could possibly be rectified by offering to the buy the man a new appliance for his kitchen or a new knife for his collection. They could clean the kitchen but it looked like an eight hour task and the man who owned it would be home, Sasori looked at the clock, in five minutes. At least the man would no longer find the pink tornado something to laugh at anymore. Maybe if they were lucky Pein would fire her. No doubt the Uchiha would step in though, for some reason the man seemed attracted to the verbal fireball. It was probably due to the close vicinity she had to his brother. The man was a tad bit uncanny when things came to his 'darling, little brother'.

Sasori stared at the chemicals. Killing Jashin, even though the cat seemed impenetrable by how many times Kakazu tried to strangle it and failed, would increase the temper of Hidan. Increasing the temperament of Hidan always resulted in an increased vocal and lung capacity by said man. And it was for that reason Sasori decided to intervene. He couldn't care less about another stomach pump for Tobi, last time he was in the hospital the peace and quiet had been nice.

"Sakura," Sasori drawled out.

She turned.

The redhead didn't even have time to react as he was raised several feet into the air by a hand belonging to the woman.

The fury in her green eyes increased his breathing rate. The grim determination of her mouth made him salivate. She was truly an angel of wrath ready to inflict death on any unwary stranger. She was what he'd been looking for; a muse. Already lyrics were forming in his head as he choked for air.

"Where is it?"

Her voice was so low and demanding. A viola could perhaps capture her energy, venom and fire. He needed something to write with. Wasn't there a white board somewhere… Yes, behind him. One arm brushed whatever recipe Kisame had written, the other uncapped the pen. Without even trying to glance, Sasori tried to scribble down the musical notes echoing in his mind.

"I said where is it?" It was a monstrous roar in the voice of a high alto.

Both hands now jammed him against the cabinet and the grip on his neck was eased as she grabbed his shirt. She was letting him live, if for just a few more seconds. It was almost a merciful act, one that a true angel might preform. Wrath and mercy, opposites yet combined… Torch fire anger and glorious understanding… A violin for her mercy then… Yes in a flat key set several octaves above the main melody.

Her eyes seemed to glimmer red as her question went unanswered.

The cabinet's pressure on his back was released and his throat was once again caught in the grip of the beast. Interweaving harmonics… That was what he needed.

"You're useless Sasori!"

The cabinets blurred by him as he was sent spinning through the air. The wind seemed to ripple against his hair and clothing. Cymbals, he needed cymbals. His body landed with a thump and a screeching "Meow!" – Drums and an electric violin or guitar, either would do.

"Jashin!" a low baritone was making its appearance.

No… It should have been playing all; an instrument brewing in the background. Sasori's hand continued moving, marking the floor within his reach as he wrote the music he saw in his mind's eye.

"You _ idiot get off of him!"

"You." It was a hissing command reaching from the darkness to claim another wandering soul. The angel had returned. Hell had no fury like a woman- Could he capture the significance though?

Something slammed him on the back shoving his hand upward. It was just what he needed an upward scale of notes to symbolize the end was coming to the soul. A low growl came from behind Sasori. How could he forget, a drum roll would be perfect.

"Jashin you ok-"

"Where is it!"

"Get off me you crazy _"

The soul, the baritone, was struggling to survive as the viola thrashed and ripped it to shreds.

"Put the knife down! I know nothing! Leave me alone! Leave me the _ alone!"

The begging, the pleading for life; this song would be his masterpiece.

"Sakura," A calm tenor was demanding the attention of the wraith, the angel, the beast, the glorious being, the monster.

"Oh? Yes, dear precious Uchiha," sarcasm and venom dripped from the soft spoken words. She was such a stained yet stunning creature. "It was you, wasn't it? Where is it?"

"No." How could one be so calm? "You've made a mess of the place, Pein is pissed. Jashin almost died, Tobi was eyeing the green bottles on the floor as soon as he came in to put the groceries away and Kisame has yet to see the kitchen."

-"What about my kitchen?" -

A trumpet… He needed a trumpet in the back ground proclaiming battle. Who would win? The stained angel or the wandering, calm knight?

"Not only have you been throwing accusations around like-"

"Tell me!" She was furious.

-Silence-

Sasori turned. There went Itachi tainting his muse with a kiss. Although, bringing the audience to the climax and then letting the music drop into silence. A perfect ending makes the audience think… hmm…

"My darling brother's music CD is in the van; where you left it."

"Oh…"

"No apology?"

"No, you probably would have stolen it if you had the chance."

There was no defense against that…

Z.z

_*hehe, my mom can't stand to be called mother._

_Hope you enjoyed_


	3. Proving, and Show

_Chapter 3 of Band Verse: contains Proving and Show. _

_I hope you enjoy, I do not own 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' or Naruto. _

_**Edit 5-18-11 Thank you Geniusly-Unique the names have been corrected.**_

_z.z _

**Proving**

Perhaps it was because the woman hadn't fallen for him on first sight or because she only had eyes for his little brother; but Itachi soon found she'd taken up all of his thoughts, awake and asleep.

Awake, his mind would replay her grouchy anger and clumsy mistakes. But in his sleep, she sang. There was no sound, at least none that he could remember, nor a clear picture of a face, just flashes of pink; but he knew it was her and the dreams stirred in him a desire to hear her for real. Ever since he learned she sang for Lightening Fox, for his brother, he wanted to ask her to sing. They were not close though, and though there were some things he might fool around with (mostly due to being influenced by Shisui his entire childhood), but singing was something on a different level. Out of respect for her, he withheld his questions even though the thoughts never left his mind.

He smiled as the woman realized his starring. He wanted to hear, but a voice was like peering into one's soul and such nakedness usually had a high price, trust.

"You were just thinking of something perverted weren't you?"

Itachi smiled wider. In a way he had. The odd, troubling longing was like love; but so very different at the same time. Perhaps it was just him who had troubling dreams about pink masses singing.

She hit him on the shoulder before setting her glare on the model castle parts before her. Itachi's eyes scanned over the pieces, already he could see the formulation they were to go in. He didn't need her help; but it was an excuse to be near her, with her, hear her and to gain her trust. And then imagine the voice singing, just for him.

"Part Ti to A5," Sakura muttered as she continued to brush back her pink hair that kept falling in her eyes.

He wondered how long her patience would last. Not long, by his recollection.

Her eyes flickered back to him. "Are you going to help me?"

He leaned in to look at the instruction manual and she leaned away. "A5 to Mp."

"Mp…" She scanned the four seating table that was full of metal pieces.

"The right end of the drawbridge you just finished."

"Oh."

Itachi watched her petite hands shake as they held the tweezers and soldering iron.

"A steam-punk castle… Who the heck comes up with such ideas? Did you get this off the internet?"

Itachi grinned, "No. I create blueprints and sent them to a friend who works as a metalsmith, he creates the parts and sends them back to me. When I finish I sell it and send a third to him."

Sakura put down the tweezers and soldering iron. "You're going to sell it?" it was more of a demand then a question.

"Yes."

Her eyes brows went up mischievously, "How much?"

He leaned in, "Not enough for it to be more than a hobby."

Her lips pursed to the side and her eyebrows furrowed in thought, "Why am I helping you then?"

Itachi gave a slight smile before replying, "I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for a bonding experience between the two of us."

Her upper lip pulled up as if she was a wolf protecting a kill, "No, you just want to make money off a poor girl."

It was anything but that. He could have finished building it by now with a lot less effort. "I'll pay you."

He now had her interest and full attention.

"How much?"

"I'll give you all of my share if—" Itachi wondered if now would be a good time, nothing had changed in their relationship, but a deal was always a prosperous option.

"If—"

"I get to hear you sing."

She stared at him slightly stunned with surprise. "You want me to sing?" suspicion made her eyes narrow.

"Yes." He wanted nothing more than for her to sing. He half hoped for it to be awful so his dreams would be left in peace. He half hoped for it to be glorious, he hated to be wrong even subconsciously.

"Why?"

"I'm curious as to how good you sound."

"I'm ok," she said with pride as if he meant to belittle her. But he was a singer of The Red Clouds which had a fan base of over three million.

"Prove it."

She glared but grinned at the challenge. "Somewhere over the rainbow, somewhere far." She closed her mouth and held onto a smug expression.

She was amazing. Her soprano was gentle but pure as she held key.

"You've a very beautiful voice, Sakura."

Her expression softened to a sad smile, "Thanks, I'm glad you think so."

Itachi squeezed her hand, "Maybe you should sing with us."

Sakura raised an eyebrow before yanking her arm away as if he burned her. "I get enough hate just being the person to introduce you on stage," she said but she turned her head hiding a blush. She scrutinized the pieces missing the extra guest who had shared Itachi's smile.

Itachi gave a nod to Sasori, who stood in the doorway. She hadn't given a definite 'no'.

**Show**

She'd forgotten how good it felt to demand the attention of the crowd, to feel the high of being in the center spot light, to have an ice metal microphone warming in her hands. This was her zone and no primal fangirl was going to ruin her night.

Snarling orders at the crowd; with the threat that the band wouldn't come out in play if they didn't do as they were told, gave her the feeling of power she had long forgotten. By the end of her rant (of cuss words) the crowd had fallen silent.

"Good job," Konan's voice said from her earpiece. Sakura nodded holding out her hand signifying the crowd should continue to hold their breath.

Her light turned blue but she could still be seen. Then it started. The violin solo could actually be heard echoing throughout the stadium (as well as some whispers but obviously a lot better than normal.) Two more seconds then she would let them go wild. The violin solo stopped. There was silence.

Then she dropped her hand and her light blinked off. The crowd exploded as did two electric guitars. The effect was ground rumbling, like a small earthquake, and deafening in Sakura's ears. She bolted off stage, making sure not to knock over an amp (like she had in practice.)

With a sigh of relief Sakura closed the inner door, which only dampened the sound slightly (that or the crowd had gotten loud as the band had been highlighted with spotlights.) She made her way up the stair case and into the light studio room. There it was quiet.

Deidara and Konan worked simultaneously at the computers and electronic instruments that looked important to Sakura. They were double checking sound, working the lights and flipping between camera angles as Itachi did a backflip from a raised box while playing a solo. But Sakura had complete admiration for their work, the lights especially, it turned out the computer program failed to work during rehearsal; so everything she saw was being manually done, and it looked better than the simulation. It probably would have been easier to get someone else to do the work, but they were a small crew and they didn't like to have new people come in.

Sakura sat back in a side seat and watched everything pull together. It was awe striking and it had taken a lot of effort to pull off. She'd been surprised; she'd only done gigs. Before her were professionals. In the back of her mind she could see why Lighting Fox was behind The Red Clouds; none of their shows were like what was before her.

The crowd loved everything and Sakura could only hear their cheer from the studio even though she could see Kisame cracking a joke on the screen. Others in the room were wearing headphones, enabling them to hear the same sound that came from the speakers.

Near the end of the performance, Pein stopped by. He filled Sakura in on the types of clothing, gear and cds that were in the multiple booths; she knew almost all of them by heart but she was still learning. He also gave her a couple of the items for 'show' only. Throwing them into the crowd was not an option. They wouldn't be allowed back into a roofed location if more than one paramedic vehicle needed to be called.

"Get them out of the auditorium," was his only command. They needed to take down their equipment and with fangirls, and that became impossible because all the band members were part of the moving crew too. It gave them more profit, according to Pein.

Sakura nodded and slipped on the sweatshirt that bore several red clouds on the front and walked out of the room.

It was their last song and as soon as they left the stage she'd need to be up there.

"Encore! Encore!" the crowd cheered but the sound seemed to literally shake the building. She could already tell it was going to be chaos.

The band members emerged on the stair case in retreat. Immediately the smell of sweat filled her senses, thank goodness she had every intention of taking a separate cab to the hotel. She stood to the side as the soaked men drank from water bottles.

"Encore?" Sakura asked, most of them were like gaping fish as they tried to gulp water and breath.

"No," Sasori said. He was the only member that didn't seem to be sweating.

So she waltzed up and onto center of the stage and the 'booing' initiated.

She smiled sweetly; this was going to be good. She turned on her microphone.

"If you don't shut your traps I have permission to shut down the sales booths." She didn't, but empty threats worked well because the fans wouldn't risk it.

An angry whisper silence fell over the crowd.

"Good, now listen up." Sakura took a deep breath and walked towards the edge of the stage. Hopefully, no one had come with tomatoes like last time.

"A new sweatshirt design for those of you who collect, _the tour only_ sweatshirt," she emphasized. She held out one arm and turned showing the back of the sweatshirt she was wearing so everyone could see the members, Barbie sized, casted in red hue light. The photography was pretty bad but—

The crowd cheered.

– nobody could care less.

"Now, there are pre-signed cd covers and autographs at the booths—"

Darn she was losing her crowd.

"I guess nobody will get to know the new cd release date…" Sakura said looking off in the distance like a dejected child.

Everything froze as their ears pricked up with delight.

Sakura smiled. She prattled off the date and then the room cleared within five minutes with the threat that "everything is limited quantity" (which was true, but they'd only run out if everyone bought three of everything, which was a possibility.)

She slipped off the stage dodging some of the workers that had come to take down the technology and wires. After the Tobi-snake-incident the main band members only dealt with objects that were theirs or non-electrical equipment.

Sakura took off the sweatshirt and set it on the table, then went to go to the makeup room to start packing up things.

Turning the corner Sakura ran into something. Sakura looked down at a little girl.

At first she was about to bark at someone for leaving their children around when she noticed something odd about the girl. The little one was wearing a Lighting Fox fandom shirt, the one that Sakura had designed several years ago, when they first started out. It was definitely looked better than The Red Cloud's in her opinion. There had only been limited quantity, they hadn't had many fans… It could only be one person…

"President Akumi88," Sakura bowed. The girl was her replacement.

Akumi88 smiled," It's good to meet you in person, founder Blossom293." Then the girls smile dropped, "I didn't realize you had become a fan of," her tone sneered, "The Red Clouds."

Sakura tilted her head to the side, "They gave me a job, that doesn't mean I'm a fan. Although I have to admit, they're really professional."

"Oh." The president tilted her head too, mirroring Sakura. "It must require a lot of time."

"Yes," Sakura blushed straightening, "I didn't know or realize Lightening Fox was getting a new female singer… It was time for me to give up my position."

The little girl nodded, sympathizing by reaching up on her tip toes and patting Sakura's head.

The girl glanced to the side, noticing she grabbed the attention of a growing audience which included the Red Cloud members.

"Even though you resigned your position I was hoping you would consider reinstating yourself as the lead website designer."

"Lead website designer of what?" Konan asked suspiciously eyeing the fanclub shirt the little girl was wearing.

"Lightening Fox's official fan site, of course," the little girl looked up at Konan with mild irritation.

"What happened to the president?"

"I am the president," The little girl's green, hazel eyes narrowed.

"You're Blossom293?"

"No," the little girl rolled her eyes, "I am the current president Akumi88. Blossom293 was the previous president and founder, who you stole with the exchange of profits. You should be grateful you are standing in her presence."

Akumi88 turned her attention back to Sakura, "Please consider it. Although you are busy, as I now see, I hope you can find some time. You have been missed, as well as your talent in the art of design." The girl turned to leave, flicking her right, orange pigtail over her shoulder.

"A—Akumi how did you find me?" Sakura asked.

The girl turned and smiled with a gleam in her eye. "I tracked your credit cards, silly. Although I don't know why anybody would want to buy elephant pajamas in Las Vegas... I noticed your track record coincided with the Red Clouds tour spots. When I checked the enemies blog sites they said there was a new, 'horrendous, ugly, pink, freak announcer'. It wasn't that hard to figure out where I could meet you."

"Ug—"

"Shh," the little girl put her index finger to her lips. "Don't worry; we'll keep in touch, dear Blossom." The girl winked and continued on.

Stunned, Sakura stared off at her departure.

"Tobi saw a dark aura around him; he did, he did," the masked man whined as the exit door made 'chute' sound as it closed.

Konan's eyes narrowed as if challenged.

She turned her back and slipped out of the room and into the 'manager's lair: only disturb if you wish to die' room to speak with Pein. Deidara stomped in behind her.

Kisame sighed, so much for not finding out.


	4. Priority and Cheating Butter

_Update on Band Verse, as promised ;) _

_Hmm. I debated putting in Cheating Butter, but it was just word prompt I got and couldn't pass up. Anyways I hope you enjoy. Yes, there has been a massive time skip about ~~~ 5 or 6 months, tours take a long time anyways… (That's what I'm telling myself.)_

_Oh and I guess people really want warnings so (even though I've already given one in chapter 1): I'm not very strict on my characterization **especially** those within my _humor_ fictions; so there may be OCness... But on that note: I do try to keep my characters as consistant as I see them... _

_Please enjoy,_

_Z.z_

_p.s. reviews are always appreciated. _

**Priority**

Naruto's mouth hadn't closed yet and Sakura was beginning to wonder if it ever would. This was not how she planned to break the news to Naruto. In fact, she would have wanted to never break it to him. Things were meant to stay whole. Their friendship was supposed to be forever. Naruto and her had been friends since they were in kindergarten.

Sasuke's lips were set in a firm, obviously irritated. Karin was smiling…but of course she was smiling, them being angry at her was good news. Or maybe it was Karin had never seen the two boy's like they were.

"I'm not going to stand, publically, in the same room with my brother and pretend to be friendly for your website," Sasuke growled.

"Yeah," Karin agreed smugly, "Lightening Fox and The Red Clouds are enemies, duh."

Sakura sighed, obviously they hadn't figured it out yet, nor had their manager informed them. Which was odd. Because even though the man was a freak and weirdo, he was usually very prompt and tidy.

"First of all it won't be all friendly. And second, you don't have a choice," Sakura told them trying to explain.

"Sakura as much as we appreciate everything you do, we won't do this," Sasuke replied, his eyes seeming to darken.

Sakura rolled her eyes. It was amazing how unalike the two brothers were once one got past the facial resemblance. Itachi had been excited to see his little brother, well excited in Itachi's _special_ way… which was behaving to the point of actually being a 'good boy' in Tobi's books. It was extremely odd not being 'sexually' harassed at home. Kisame had said that Itachi's harassment had a lot to do with the death of his older cousin, who he saw as an older brother. The man had once been the goodiest of two-shoes but after the death, during his first year of high school, he had begun to take on the characteristics of his once best friend. It was one of the reasons Kisame was so adamant about his health, not only did he care for his wellbeing he feared Itachi painting his body blue.

Sasuke, on the other hand, looked ready to commit suicide on the spot at the mention of his brother.

The door of the hotel room opened revealing the paper skinned man and then the door slammed shut. A tight smile was plastered on his face. "I'm sorry I was held up by an old colleague."

He blinked at Sakura, "What are you doing here?"

"Orochimaru, Pein had—"

"Ah, yes!" He glanced at his watch, "We're almost late. "

"Yes, that is why I was just checking in."

"Where will the photo-shoot take place, in the lobby?" The man asked his hands seemly twitched in irritation.

"It's going to take place in a hotel room. One floor down, room 315."

"Perfect. Come along," he snapped his fingers.

Sakura raised her eyebrows but got out the door first.

"What do you mean, I never agreed to do anything with Itachi," Sasuke seethed.

"Shh," the man held his index finger to his lips, "This will boost sales."

"Look, I thought we had a dea-" Sasuke started.

"Shut it! You're family deal with it!"

Sakura skipped down the hall and opened the stairwell door. She didn't want to be part of a spat, she wasn't part of them; it was like walking in on a fighting family. Privacy was needed.

She increased her brisk pace until she reached the room. She slid her card key in the door lock and it opened. She pushed the door open and then was practically tackled in a hug.

"Sakura-chan! Tobi was scared you got ate-a-tid."

Sakura gently patted the bushy head of the tall man hugging her abdomen. "No one ate me," Sakura hummed as she decided the hug had lasted long enough. She gave a push but he didn't let go. "Tobi-"

A voice cleared its throat. Sakura glanced at the members and manager of Lightning Fox.

Tobi let go and backed away while not standing up. He turned his head, his mask hole peering at the audience. "Cousin!"

Immediately Tobi pounced, but was blocked by a red blur.

"Hands off my Sasuke."

Tobi stood there, whatever expression he had lay hidden behind his mask, his face only several centimeters from Karin's.

The man turned towards Sakura and straightened up. Then he started to cry.

Sakura face palmed. She didn't have any lollipops on hand and she needed him to pose; he was uncooperative when unhappy. The day just couldn't give her a break. Everybody, besides Sasuke and Sakura, looked bewildered at the supposed mystery, doom man drummer bursting into tears.

"Tobi," the door opened to reveal Sasuke's older brother. "You're not allowed in the hallway."

Tobi turned at being called, "Itachi, Tobi found Sasuke!"

Itachi's eyes scanned over the opposing band, "I see." His eyes finally froze upon Sasuke. "Brother you're late." His normal peaceful tone sounded forced and crisp.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger at being belittled.

Sakura glanced back and forth between the two; the entire aura of the room felt frozen. So Itachi had at least three faces in his pocket: the fun loving, the goody-toe-shoes and a monotonic jerk.

At once, Sakura could see Karin beginning to eye-google the tall man. "Well, you'll have to excuse-" she began trying to be flirty.

"Excuses are pathetic and will get you nowhere in life. Own up to your mistakes," Itachi cut her off. Coal eyes regarded the woman with distaste.

Karin's cheeks puffed out at being dismissed.

Sakura backed away, the Itachi before her was cool, calculating and very mean, a man too different from the one she had been living with for thirteen months. Her movement caught his attention. He looked at her and his gaze softened as if seeing the thoughts in her head. "Sakura, I believe we have some photos to take."

"Yes," she nodded grabbing Tobi by the shoulders to lead him into the room. "The Red Clouds have gotten their band single shots done, so do you want to take combined photos first or just Lighting Fox?"

"I don't understand why we need to take photos with them. Why does our website need to have pictures-" Sasuke growled.

"The pictures will be released on yours and our newest album. Instead of releasing singles and paying for the entire thing separately, we cut costs and will make a profit by combining our talents," Pein answered as he walked through the set consisting of a green screen and overly large black couch. Sakura didn't know how they got it up the hotel stairs because there was no way it fit in the elevator.

"Make-up and clothes should have been prepared, did they make it?" Orchimaru asked.

"Yes, they are in the side bedroom," Pein pointed to a door way on the left side of the room. There was barely any space to walk. Pein had gotten nice rental camera equipment for the photos; of course, he had been cheap on the room, back drop and he had decided to do it in a hotel. Pein walked through the door way on the right side of the room.

As Lightning Fox edged their way along the side of the room to avoid equipment, Itachi walked to the middle of the set and sat in the middle of the couch; Tobi followed after him.

"Tobi wants to know why you are so unhappy," the taller man whimpered.

Itachi stretched out his back and just gave Tobi a level stare.

Sakura sighed and made her way to the camera. "Smile you two."

Itachi gave her a stare and Tobi cried, "Tobi says cheese!"

The flash lit the two of them up and then Sakura looked at the picture on the screen. Itachi looked like an eighty year-old man.

She walked to the couch and sat on the other side of Itachi. She smiled her cruelest smile, "When we take pictures, I expect that you drop the whatever 'I'm evil, fear me act'. "

"Or else?" there was no tease in his voice; in fact it sounded like he was angry.

"I live in the same house with you, I can make your life a living-"

"Sakura, please, I can make more hell than you."

She had no choice; she wasn't going to get him to do what she wanted, she was going to have to use the Tobi way. She widened her green eyes and stuck out her lower lip and began to whimper. Itachi's eyebrow twitched. Then Tobi joined in. Itachi shut his eyes and sighed, "Fine."

Sakura smiled, "If you get me good pictures I might even show you my scrapbook of when me, Naruto and Sasuke were in the same band, just because I know you're interested."

Coal eyes looked into hers and the smirk she had found herself missing was back on his face. He took her hand and kissed it, "I'll be a perfect gentleman."

Sakura sighed, "I don't need a perfect gentleman; I need Itachi Uchiha."

He tilted his side and gave his famous teasing smile, "My stage presence is all yours, on one condition."

Sakura could already feel a headache coming on. "What is this condition?"

"You and me…"Itachi stopped as if the whole situation was amusing, "in a recording studio…with the rest of the band of course."

"Wha-"

"Lightening Fox upped the ante with a bringing a female to their team, we'll match and beat them with you," Itachi smiled.

"Look, I'm not going to-"

Itachi leaned in to whisper, "Your prettier, your more snuggleable and loveable, not to mention the only time you have four-eyes is when you read and even then you're the most cutest thing on the planet with your eyes being magnified several thousand times."

Sakura's mouth hung open. Then she snorted, "How dare you!"

Somewhere behind her she heard Kisame sigh.

"How dare I? Please, doesn't it seem reasonable?" He positioned himself so he was pinning Sakura to the couch. "You already work for us and you can keep a tune, it's not that big of a step."

"I don't-"

"Do you want good pictures?" Itachi looked like he was brimming with pleasure at catching her in his trap. "Think of the money you would make from the record; Pein doesn't go through record companies so we get a good chunk of money from sales. It would be a win-win situation."

Sakura glared at the man, "No, I'm not betraying anyone."

"It wouldn't be betrayal, especially if Lightning Fox and The Red Clouds recorded together…"

Sakura bit her lip. There was something off about the deal; there was no way the two bands would record together. "If you can get everyone to put a song together, in the same studio, at the same time, then I'll sing."

A giggling noise came from the door way and the three on the couch turned.

Akumi88 walked through the door. "You shouldn't agree to deals without a lawyer, Blossom293. The recording has already been arranged. But, I am looking forward to hearing you sing… Lighting Fox's quality has dropped slightly in recent months as well as in ratings; having one of the original members back with them, might give them a boost."

"Akumi88," Itachi greeted the girl.

"Itachi," the girl nodded stepping through the door way. "Thank you for the card key, it was appreciated. I hate knocking on doors."

"As do I," Itachi smiled.

Sakura growled turning suddenly on the older man, "Why can't you follow simple house rules?"

"And miss you reading Shakespeare to your stuffed animals? I think not."

Sakura turned beat red before slugging Itachi. "It wasn't Shakespeare!"

"So you read to your stuffed animals?" Itachi smiled, winning. "That's adorable."

Swear words spewed from Sakura's mouth as she tried to grab his neck, but she failed as he pushed her away using two fingers on her forehead.

Another door opened and Sakura felt herself being yanked backwards and off the couch. "I'm am deeply sorry, Mr. Uchiha," the manager of Lighting Fox said, his yellow eyes pierced at Sakura's skin as though daydreaming of stabbing her to death.

"For what?" Itachi asked, looking past Orochimaru and at his brother.

"Our photographer's unprofessionalism, I assure you it will not happen again," he commented glaring down at Sakura.

At that a loud rumbling laughter burst from the corner of the room. Kisame was leaning over and holding his abdomen, the rest of the Red Clouds' band members sighed in relief. The over grown man wasn't harming the walls by pounding on them with his fists. Pein would cut all of their income to repair them if so.

Sakura blinked up at Orochimaru and back at the ground, which was several inches below her extended toe.

"May I ask that you remove your hand from our spokesperson, Orochimaru. I'd hate to file a lawsuit," Pein said walking into the room, without even looking at the situation.

Sakura winced at her title; it wouldn't be lost on any of them.

"Spokesperson?" several voices asked in unison as Orochimaru dropped Sakura.

"Sakura officially works for us," Pein sighed as if the whole thing was just a waste of time.

"Since when?" Sasuke asked raising an eyebrow at his brother.

Itachi regarded Sasuke coolly, no smile on his face. "It's none of your business."

"Sakura works as our fanclub president, it is our business."

"Actually," the little girl spoke up, "I'm now the fanclub president of Lighting Fox. Sakura didn't want to have a conflict of interest."

"It was very reasonable of her," Itachi commented.

"Very," the little girl replied.

Sasuke looked like he was about to throw up. "Sakura?" he asked as if hoping it wasn't true.

She coughed, "We have pictures to take."

"Very true," Pein said clapping his hands. "Time is money, let's go people."

"Sakura, why didn't you tell me?" Naruto said, his blue-eyes looking close to brimming over.

Sakura gulped, feeling the room getting hotter under the intensity of stares. "It wasn't one of my top priorities…"

"Don't be unprofessional brother, when things don't go your way that doesn't give you an excuse to act like a spoiled child. Do your job and get the pictures done with," Itachi reprimanded.

Sasuke opened his mouth as if to try and rebuttal, but then his jaw snapped shut. "Where do you want us Sakura?" His voice came out monotonic and detached.

"On the left side of the couch. Sasuke you'll sit next to Itachi, then Naruto, Karin, Lee, Kiba and Juugo." Sakura turned to look at the Red Clouds, "Situate yourselves accordingly." She then looked at the stiff faced Itachi and poked him in the shoulder. "Is our deal off?" she asked.

He watched his brother and the band members sit before winking at Pein. He smiled at Sakura. "Nope it is on."

"Good," she growled about to walk around the couch to get to the camera.

"Sakura," Itachi called, making Sasuke scowl. "I think I may have ruined my make-up…"

"What?" Sakura barked, coming closer to take a look.

In several seconds Itachi spun her around and flipped her upside down over the couch so her head rested between him and his brother. He grabbed her and held her as he sat and she started swearing at him. Sasuke tried to rip Itachi's hands off and then bright flashes of light caught everyone's movements. Naruto lunged and Kisame only had to rest a hand on the boy's head. Karin had jumped up (for what reason no one was sure) but Tobi literally dove across the entire length of the couch, he was at the end, to tackle her to the ground. Juugo and Hidan made perfect symmetry laughing their heads off. And Sasori gave a bored look at Lee who was pumping his hands in the air.

Orochimaru and Pein shared a nod; the picture would be perfect for the album. Akumi88 grinned evilly at the scene and at her phone, which she was currently typing on to update the website. Konan and Deidara smiled, the scene had played out perfectly. Everything had gone according to plan.

**Cheating Butter**

Losing twenty-five pounds how hard could it be?

Hard.

Extremely hard.

Every coconut cookie that Kisame baked screamed at her. Every drip of cheese falling from the pizzas in everybody else's hands serenaded her eyes.

Just. One. Little. Bite.

No!

Five weeks with one more to go and five more pounds to drop. She was going strong; she would be happy and healthier. Even though it seemed she was missing out now, in the end she would be the better.

Who would have thought a new job and new house would have fattened her up? It was more than likely the takeout food. When everyone else decided they'd eaten enough of Kisame's 'fish food' for a week they bought takeout. At least she wasn't alone. Kisame may have made amazing, sickening, and rich desserts but everything else he made loomed on the line of health-nut. Of course, being so tall the man needed to be aware of his diet at all times. The man had been supportive too, when she had announced her idea, not only did he help her plan her diet but aided her in finding a workout routine.

Tonight wasn't a good night though. Kisame wasn't home. There were left over coconut cookies and oily pepperoni pizza, her favorite food, before her. Her stomach gurgled as she tried to shove down her tuna.

"You want some Sakura, un?" The blond man took a slow bite of pizza. The drips of the oil clung to his bottom lip and the soft chewing noise almost brought her to the edge of insanity. Would one night really kill her?

Just a bite.

That was all she wanted.

Resolve! Her mind screamed.

'But,' the little devil on her shoulder giggled, 'doesn't it look _delicious_?'

Oh yes, it looked beyond delicious; it looked like a delicacy. But it was wrong. She had five more pounds to loose!

'But one night wouldn't hurt. After all,' the devil smiled, 'you've cheated on everything already. Turkey bacon, non-fat greek yogurt for dips, salads for lunch, tofu chicken and you even cheated on butter with that 'I can't believe it sh**.' You deserve to have the real thing. Just one little bite won't hurt you.' The trident poked her cheek, 'Take a bite.'

"Just a bite," Sakura murmured more to herself than the others in the room.

"Here," Deidara smiled passing her a plate with a slice of pepperoni pizza. The others in the roomed sighed.

Sakura raised it to her mouth. Oh, how wonderful. The warm gooeyness was squishing under her fingertips. The heat of the piece brushed her face like a lover. Mmm.

"I love a b_ with handles," Hidan commented.

Everything in Sakura froze. Love handles? No! Her resolve-It wasn't too late- It couldn't be-She hadn't even taken a bite. With a splat the pepperoni pizza slammed and stuck to Hidan's face.

Sakura moved herself from the dining room to the kitchen. But temptation was still there, the door hadn't blocked the wonderful, heavenly smell.

Itachi got up from the table calmly and removed the plate from the swearing cat lover. "If you want to blame someone, Deidara was the one who gave her ammo."

As the pizza flinging catastrophe happened, Itachi made his way out of the room while ducking and dodged his way to the kitchen, the 'if-you-mess-it-up-you-will-die' zone.

After a quick glance Itachi found Sakura curled around the air freshener that was plugged into the wall.

The man smiled and a mischievous glint glittered in his eyes. He kneeled by the woman and leaned in enough to touch foreheads with her. Her eyes snapped open then narrowed.

"Do you want to tease me too?"

"No," he breathed in and the jasmine freshener burned his nose. "I have a way that you can taste the pizza without eating it."

She raised her thin, pink eyebrow. "How?"

At once her mouth was confiscated.

Two minutes later the thought that air might be needed to continue living came to Itachi. It was only after three minutes and fifteens seconds, and after he was supporting a passed out pink haired woman, did he come to the conclusion that yes, breathing was essential for all life forms.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head against hers.

"Pepperoni pizza," she murmured as she snuggled into his chest.

He smiled; she was so unique.

"No," she whimpered, "I didn't want to cheat on you, mister butter!"

He sighed. Yes, she was _very_ unique.


	5. In Which Kisame Gives Precious Advice

Don't own Naruto. Maybe OC.

**Ch 5. In Which Kisame Gives Precious Advice**

The words on the paper felt as though they'd been written in a foreign language, but they were undoubtedly so familiar that she could recite them with her eyes closed. It was almost as though she was in some sort of dream, where she was just floating, not quite on the earth, or in reality. It was the airy yet weightful feeling in her gut, as though she'd done something horrible but amazing at the same time. It was painful, but relieving, yet maybe more painful.

What had she been thinking, agreeing to Itachi's deal? Nothing.

All she'd wanted was one good shot, a perfect picture… and what had she gotten? Her eyes looked up from the piece of paper in her hands to her laptop sitting on the coffee table beside her. The cover for the cd album had her face on it, her eyes and mouth set in spitting poison at Itachi, who had been holding her upside down. It had been their (Pein's and Konan's) plan all along. It just pissed her off. Not only had they gotten her in the photo (ugly in slack clothes and without make-up) they had gotten her agree to recording a song too. She felt used.

Wanting to throw the laptop on the ground, but knowing it would leave her short a connection to the internet and give her an expensive bill, she withheld. After all, it was no use making the laptop endure the suffering she wanted to pin on the one she blamed above all…Itachi. He'd been the one to actually go through with the plan and he'd been the one to talk her into it.

Her eyes went over the picture again and in her mind she remembered how it all continued to play out.

Tobi and Karin had both been screaming on the floor, the red-head yelling obscenities and Tobi throwing a tantrum like a two year-old. During that fiasco, Sasuke looked like he was ready to shoot lightning from his hand. Naruto had been stunned, by the hand on the head, and utterly confused (although that was a given.) And Itachi hadn't helped the situation by not letting go after the photo had been taken. In fact, he had started acting possessive, something which Sakura did not stand for.

She had truly wanted to explain, to tell her two boys everything but midst the chaos the only thing that had come was "I needed a job" and those were the words that had left her mouth. Sasuke's lips had twitched and he jumped up from the couch, stalking into the dressing room; Naruto then shoved away from Kisame and started looking back and forth between her and Sasuke, as if wondering which side to take; he'd eventually followed Sasuke into the room. When the door had shut, Itachi let her go and then had become quiet, acting as though he hadn't just made her best-friends shun her.

The only person who actually started talking to her was Lee and that just caused more problems.

"Sakura, you look as stunning as always," the boy had begun, "would you like to have dinner tonight?"

At that moment, she had just wanted to get away, so like an idiot, she replied, "Sounds good."

Itachi stiffened like an animal after being taxidermied. Then Pein, as though sensing she might actually enjoy herself, said they were leaving in two hours and everything needed to get packed up.

She hadn't gotten a time to speak with Sasuke or Naruto after that. Sakura ran a hand through her hair, life just wasn't fair.

Her eyes left the picture and went over the piece of paper, over the lyrics once again. Wanting to groan in despair, Sakura instead settled for a long, drawn out sigh. How had she let herself get talked into this? How had she fallen for such a pathetic trick? Why in the world was she going to be singing –

"If you ain't got love and nobody to care, go to the streets and sing and sing, because that's where love is, it's right there!" A deep voice sang, as the man walked into the room, through the doorway facing her. Kisame did a jump, then gave final stance before her, "Love is in the streets!"

She couldn't help it. Hearing Kisame sing and dance to the hit song by Lightning Fox, a pop tune, next to his normal rock attitude of Red Clouds had her laughing until tears came to her eyes. As she wiped them away, she quickly gave Kisame a round of applause.

The man gave a bow before he sat on the couch next to her. The big man took up most of it, and his weight and overwhelming presence caused her to fall into him. His arm looped around her shoulder and he tugged her close.

"You shouldn't be so down hearted. It's starting to catch the other members. Right now, we need everyone at the top of their game," the man said, his usual feral smile was replaced by something just slightly gentler.

The gentleness looked extremely odd and she couldn't help but feel that she was causing a rather large problem if Kisame was the one who came to cheer her up.

"I just don't understand, why are we singing Love in the Streets? Are you guys going to be back ground for a new remix with Lightning Fox?"

Kisame gave a chuckle that vibrated her entire side, "No, it will almost be visa-versa. Part of this showbiz is competition. We have chosen one song of Lightning Foxes to record and do better, or at least try to. Sasori and Itachi are working on reassembling the piece as we speak and when we are done we will record. I believe Itachi said something about having Nauto sing back-up, so that you will have to sing with us on the piece because of the deal you made with him. "

Sakura gave a grunt. Itachi was brilliant in his schemes; it would be the last time she ever made a deal with him. Then she wanted to face palm-no, it probably wouldn't be the last time-he'd just find or make another situation to use against her.

"Lightning Fox will be reassembling one of our pieces, and can ask us for anything as well. Then once those two pieces are recorded, we'll be doing a collaboration piece where both full bands will work together. The record is going to sell like wildfire."

Sakura looked at the lyrics again, "This is their best seller…"

"All the more put at stake." Kisame tilted his head to the side as he looked at the picture on the laptop screen. "But that's not what's really bugging you… Is it?"

The woman's head turned and followed his gaze's direction. Sighing, she replied, "They haven't spoken or emailed me back… Well besides Lee."

Kisame watched the lower lip tremble, but then the girl's hand tightened on the paper, scrunching it, and the trembling stopped, "We've just been friends for so long…" She trailed off, eyes leaving the picture.

Black eyes looked back and forth between the laptop screen and the girl. He wasn't the 'comforting' type and had never been any good at it. He usually made Tobi cry harder, or got him screaming in distress….But right now she needed something or someone. She was feeling guilty about who she'd chosen to work for; and it wasn't like Lighting Fox had tried to recruit her, it had been to the contrary. It was their fault, in his opinion, not hers.

"The greatest piece of advice I've ever gotten is this: a friend whose friendship is circumstantial isn't a friend worth having in any circumstance."

The green eyes looked up at him. Oh dear, her lip was once again trembling. He was really awful; he should have just kept his mouth shut—

Little arms, compared to his, threw themselves around his neck and the head of pink pressed against his chest. She let loose one shudder, probably a sob, before she pulled back away from him, swiping at her eyes.

"Thank you," she said, a dark blush forming on her cheeks at her embarrassing outbreak of emotion. She gave a twisted smile, "It must have been a wise person who gave you the advice."

"Itachi wise, psh, no," Kisame laughed.

Sakura's mouth hung a gap. "Itachi was the one who said it?"

"Yup." Kisame twisted his head up and looked at the ceiling. "It was… my sophomore year. We'd actually never spoken previous to that even though we'd had quite a few classes together.

"I was the only sophomore on the varsity football team and the main fullback. Our last game, offense fourth down, forty-seconds on the clock, the one that could have put us through state-championships, ended up being lost because of me. I had just twisted my ankle during the down, although I hadn't realized it at the time, and couldn't block the guy who tackled the quarterback at the five yard line. I beat myself up about it, and in a way I became a pariah at the school, whose entire moral had been crushed. A lot of my best, and only, friends were still upset about it. I was in AP Chemistry, and for the first time I was without a lab partner. Then, as I was looking for my best-friend, only to find him at another table, the chair next to mine was pulled out by the only freshman in class, Itachi. Then, for the first time in my entire life I got my forehead poked. And he told me what he thought about my situation. Then he smiled, sat down and introduced himself. It took a couple months, okay maybe a year, to get used to him, but we've been best-friends since. He hasn't changed too much since high school. He's still a goof, " Kisame said his voice becoming louder, "a forehead poking freak and a creepier who hides around walls listening to other peoples conversations."

Gentle laughter alerted Sakura to Itachi before his body emerged from the door way. His hair was unusually loose and unbound, and his clothes, also unusual, looked unkempt and wrinkled. He walked over, a slight shadow on his features, "My high school days were not the best, you'll have to forgive whatever unethical, ridiculous, pathetic story Kisame has told you. I was a tad bit arrogant back then."

"So you've gotten worse?" Sakura asked, a smile forming its way onto her features.

"Hmm?"

"Cause I think you're the most conceited person I've ever met."

Itachi blinked twice at the comment before giving another low laugh, although it sounded slightly forced. "It's obvious that you never had the chance of meeting my cousin."

Before Sakura could offer a sympathetic sorry on the fast change of the subject, Itachi promptly turned and sat on top of both Kisame and Sakura, causing both to react and pull apart to make room for him.

"That's better," Itachi smiled, putting both arms on the back of the couch, causing Kisame to retract his.

Kisame kept edging to the arm of the couch, putting as much distance (which wasn't much) between him and the other man. "You're starting to smell…"

"Yes, that's why Sasori kicked me out until I washed up. Seven days and we're still not even close to being finished," Itachi sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Being closer now, Sakura could see the greasy hair on the man beside her. And Kisame's little fact of smell also brought it to her attention, that indeed, Itachi was starting to smell… Although it wasn't as unpleasant as she expect—no—no there was no way she was going to admit to anybody even herself that beside her the man's body odor was different than anybody else's. If he ever heard such, it would make his ego grow only that many times larger.

"Gross," Sakura held her nose, "you haven't washed in seven days, go take a shower." She got up before Itachi got the chance to be suggestive and began walking out of the room. She stopped before she left. "Can I help in the kitchen tonight?" Sakura asked, her question directed at Kisame.

"Me deny help or a clean-up crew? Never," the man smiled, his teeth shining with a sharp gleam from the lighting of the room.

"Cool, I'll be back in a bit then, I need to grab my charging cord, my battery is about to die on my laptop," Sakura replied, leaving.

Itachi scooted over into Sakura's previous spot and turned his gaze to Kisame.

"It was nothing bad; I didn't mention our fingernail painting, pranks, run for class president, the time you actually threatened the student council members, the time you made good on those threats or anything like that. I was just giving her a piece of advice you once gave me," Kisame said.

Kisame kept eye level with Itachi as the man continued to stare at him. Then Itachi gave an uncomfortable smile, "I know it was nothing bad, because I remember telling you specifically not to tell her anything about such things." With that Itachi rose and began walking out of the room.

"Itachi," Kisame began.

"Hm?"

"Your brother and Naruto haven't spoken with Sakura…"

Itachi nodded, understanding, "I'll make a call."

/*A rather serious piece, but life can't always be humor and happy-funny-clouds-and-bunnies so yeah. This was my second go at the same chapter, and although this one is a lot more serious, I think I like it more. A tad bit more characterization (of Kisame and Itachi, who like all other chars I make are OC) I though it turned out ok… but you'll have to let me know what you think.

The truth is friendship shouldn't be circumstantial. And even though this might sound weird, if you need/want someone to talk to you can pm me, I do not mind and probably would enjoy the conversation (I'm a tad bit of a loner.)

May God bless you and keep you

Z.z

*/


	6. Flight

_Warning: Previous warnings of characters out of character apply and exaggeration is for humor only not to offend or give false account of reality. Enjoy -_

* * *

**Flight**

Sakura sighed as she straightened her sweatshirt. This was it; she was going to see Naruto and Sasuke. She took a deep breath to steady herself as she walked through automatic doors, dragging her wheeled luggage with her. Her eyes looked to the side before she focused on finding the specific airlines she was supposed to collect tickets for. Large windows were pitch black already and it was only seven o'clock. The airport lights didn't seem bright enough for the darkness seemed to stretch into the building, not unlike a dark omen. It was going to be a red eye flight.

Kakuzu was such a cheapskate. Red eye and he wouldn't even buck up and upgrade them to first class. She got her legs pumped in anger as she walked faster to the ticket stand. She was supposed to be collecting the tickets for everyone, so when they arrived they could go straight to the security checkpoint without grabbing too much attention. The idea was to pretend they were just make-up expert, not the real Red Clouds. She didn't buy it, but that was what Kakuzu was going with because he was also too cheap to get them costume, fake ids or get a private jet. The only person that knew the Red Clouds were going to be in real person at the airport (besides Lightening Fox) was a specific security guard who would be making sure no one knew who the true identities of flight seven-seven-two were. The security guard was not being paid in cash, but Kakuzu knew someone in the FBI and promised he'd put in a good word for the man if he was able to keep a secret. Of course, the man wanted to get out of his job so he would do just as Kakuzu said. That meant he would tell no one that he checked in Lightening Fox and the Red Clouds onto the same plane. The man probably didn't realize how much money could be made by slipping the information to the press.

She kept her eyes peeled just in case the man had said anything, but there were no cameras beside security footage. She walked up to the automatic ticket machine and began entering the codes to get the tickets for everyone but Konan, who'd be driving to reach the destination to bring them back home via their normal tour bus. They'd been scheduled into a late night show program as guests. They'd be making the announcement for the new cd, which would be recorded in a couple months and released a week after that, any more time and it was likely information or songs would leak to the internet and then they would receive no money for the pirated music.

Collecting the tickets from the tray, she made her way back outside and waited somewhat impatiently for everyone to arrive. Slowly a van, packed to the brim with interesting characters, made its way through the departure lane. It stopped and all members of both bands got off. Immediately Sakura realized it wasn't going to be a good night. The grim look on Sasuke face meant Itachi had already set his brother off. Naruto was showing his teeth as if growling at Deidara and Sasori. Tobi, unreadable with his mask, stared uncannily at the red head who was trying to get as much space between them as she could. Kakuzu had a firm grip on Hidan's shoulders and the purple-eyed cat lover looked ready to pop a blood vessel. The man's hand was pure white as it gripped the handle of a cat carrier case. Inside the case, the hairless cat looked out at the world from behind bars and hissed, showing teeth. Orochimaru had a snarl on his features, like most of the time, and Pein was in a conversation with Juugo. Kisame just looked plainly sick, as if he were coming down with the flue. Lee, like always, was the only one smiling. Then Lee saw her and the small grin turned into a full flash of white teeth.

"Sakura!" Immediately, with youthful abilities that only come with wearing a retro green jumpsuit, Lee was beside her. "I am so sorry that we were unable to have our dinner, my beautiful lotus; I promise with my life that we shall have one in the near future."

He always managed to stun her with how far he went in his declaration. She scratched the back of her head and gave an awkward laugh. Perhaps agreeing to a dinner with him had not been the best idea. "How about we just make it a rain check?"

The smile grew even wider, but before Lee could continue the rest had arrived and Pein interrupted, "You have the tickets?"

"Yep," She replied and gave Red Clouds' to Pein and Lightning Fox's to Orochimaru. The pale man gave a huffing sigh, as if even being handed the tickets by someone of her status was disgusting. Everyone double checked and then they went into the building. Sakura's eyes bolted to Naruto and Sasuke, but their heads were together and it was obvious they were arguing about something. She looked back down, wondering if it was even right for her to approach them. A hand touched her shoulder to reassure her and she looked up at Itachi. He moved his hand to her head and gave it a pat.

"What seat are you?" he asked.

"D-2," Sakura replied, "you?"

"D-1," Itachi smiled, "it's the window seat; you can have it if you want."

Green eyes blinked and then she smiled, "Really?" the excitement was hard to miss and Itachi gave a nod. Her mind then went into suspicion mode, how had Itachi known she wanted a window seat?

"You were upset that we toured by bus. You wanted to fly, remember?" he quietly told her as they stood in line to get their belongings scanned.

"Oh… thanks," she smiled. How in the world he remembered something so small was beyond her.

Suddenly an ear-splitting cry erupted from ahead of them and both turned to look forward.

"No! No!" Tobi screamed, "Pein-sama don't let them take my Sippy-cup!"

Everyone in Red Clouds sighed and quickly Pein let loose a growl. "I told him not to bring that _ cup. Konan was supposed to check him before he left the house."

After much fuss with the TSA officers and more tears from Tobi, it was determined that the pink and green, poke-a-dot Sippy-cup filled with whole-milk could not pass through the security checkpoint. The contents also had to be emptied and washed by one of the TSA agents, not to mention the white mixture had to be checked to make sure it was milk. Pein looked ready to kill Tobi at that point, and when they got through the metal detectors and the guard asked Tobi to remove his mask another phase of screams and tears filled the entire airport. Slowly the remaining TSA officer guided everyone through another line of sensors.

Thankfully there was no other incident in line after Pein took out medical documents as proof that there was something wrong with Tobi, but he was safe to bring aboard a plane even though the security guard Kakuzu 'hired' began to discretely check, just to make sure. If something else had occurred it was likely Pein would have raised six dead men and had them kill for him. He was ready to murder someone and that someone was firmly gripped by the neck and wearing an orange mask.

At such a point it occurred to Sakura that if they were going to attract attention anyways then Kakuzu's plan of being 'secretive' had no reason behind it except to have had Pein agree to it. The entire point was to keep a low profile but that was long gone. People were looking at Tobi and the rest of them as if they were some sort of circus, which is probably what it really looked like.

"Good make up design, right guys?" Juugo asked those around him and they shrunk back multiple steps, clearly fearful of the 'mad' and funny dressed people.

Itachi leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Sadly, we are not famous for being ourselves but for being other people entirely. We give people what they want, not who we are." He then turned, looped his arm around her shoulder and gave a beaming smile and wave to a young male teenager holding a camera. He was being his annoying self, not the powerful, serious vocalist and guitarist he was known to be on stage.

She looked at him with appreciation. How could he change is persona so easily? She could barely manage to contain her emotions at all.

"If you look this good you can get a pretty girlfriend like this," Itachi said continued to speak with the young guy whose face turned red at such a blunt statement.

Naruto's and Sasuke's ears twitched. Sakura's mouth hung open. He did not just say- "Pervert! She cried as she jabbed him in the rib cage. The narcissistic-

Her thoughts fell from her mind when she was ripped from Itachi's grip by two hands. Naruto and Sasuke glared at Itachi as they pulled Sakura between them and away from the long black haired man, who gave a daring smirk.

"Stay away from our Sakura!" Naruto huffed with anger. They dragged her around to the nearest corner, away from the rest of the group before facing her.

Naruto's blue eyes turned to slits and his bottom lip stuck out like he had a cigar in his mouth, as if he was some sort of mob boss. It was the most anger Naruto had ever shown to her and her lips began to tremble. He was going to yell at her. He opened his mouth as if to start, but then he shut it; his blue eyes scanned her face, reading her body language.

He engulfed her in a tight hug and like a leech stayed put. "You are insane sister, but still the love of my life," he sang quietly in her ear so only the two of them could hear. "But one of these days the asylum is going to open its doors and drag you away from me. Or Sasuke's older brother will…" It was a song they put together after a night of horror films and ice cream—an inside joke. He pulled back and his lips twitched in a grin.

Sakura swiped at her eyes, the idiot had her blubbering like a fool. Then the last part hit her. She hit him on the shoulder and he hit her back, lightly. Her eyes went to Sasuke but it was clear he wasn't so forgiving. His black eyes stared at her mercilessly. His lips thinned before he spoke, "hn."

"So… Sa-ku-ra-" Naruto began, "What is going on between you in Itachi?"

Sasuke's movement blurred as he smacked Naruto hard on the back of the head. "Nothing is going on between them, dope. Itachi is just trying to get to me."

Sakura tilted her head to the side slightly offended. Did arrogance and narcissism run in Uchiha blood? Why did he belittle her so? Her lips twitched and anger swelled in her chest. She'd known the man for almost a year now, and that was a long time to keep up an act. Itachi was her friend like the rest of Red Clouds and maybe he liked her for who she was. (That being said, in the beginning he might have been friends with her to get Sasuke's pictures, because he snooped around her room a lot…) But why in the world did Sasuke think that she was just a tool? She wasn't. And while she might have agreed with him before, she wasn't now. She wasn't that little girl checking her e-mail endlessly to see if he'd replied to her message (actually for the last several months she'd been doing that because she was trying to make contact after he'd learned she worked for Red Clouds, but she really had changed). The more she thought about it the angrier she was getting.

"I am not some device that's easy to manipulate. Contrary to what you may believe Sasuke; you are not the center of the universe. And while you may think your brother is some mastermind villain, he's not; you are really just psychotically paranoid." She looked him directly in the eye. He needed to see she wasn't the same anymore; she'd grown up. Sometime while playing hide-and-seek with Tobi, cooking delicious sweets with Kisame, counting money with Kakuzu, designing sets with Konan and Deidara, delivering orders for Pein, fleeing the scary hairless cat on the way to litter box with Hidan following after it with a pooper scooper, mixing bar drinks with Sasori and connecting those stupid pieces of steam punk castles with Itachi she had found just where she wanted to be. She would always love the two boys before her, but now their opinions weren't the ones that mattered. She needed to set the record straight on where she stood, "You have some issues to figure out; but if you keep thinking that my friends are out to get you, we are going to have some problems-big ones. Your brother completely adores you on the point of it being creepy. In reality, he's not the bad guy; you are." She held her stare for a minute longer, not willing to give in. She was waiting for guilt to hit her but nothing came. She felt justified. She didn't realize how much anger she'd been reigning in. She was mad for being kicked out of the band, mad that she rarely heard from him and mad that when she tried to talk to him earlier in the months he (and Naruto) had denied her contact. She was sick of being an emotional rollercoaster.

He scoffed, "Are you serious, how badly has he brain washed you?" His black eyebrows went up and he looked at her as if she were a joke.

There was no swell of anger that she thought would come. There wasn't the guiltiness of agreement either. Instead there was pity, pity that the-should-be-man was a little boy who couldn't let go of a grudge. He and Itachi both were missing out on having each other's support. They would be an amazing team, but Itachi's personality disorder (if that is what it was called) and Sasuke's blindness were ruining it.

She gave a sigh. She had no right to be angry or mad. "I forgive you for everything." For if she hadn't been kicked out of the band, she would have been on tour when Ino went to that concert and Pein would have never thought to make her an announcer (for she still didn't know that he'd hacked her computer i.d. address and personal information and that his true intention was to get her as a web designer). If she'd been speaking with Sasuke on a regular basis it would have likely distracted her from hanging out with the real people around her. And if they had forgiven her earlier then when she'd finally broken into tears a couple days ago she wouldn't have found out how truly lucky she was to have such good friends who were ok with emotional breakdowns (or at the very least didn't belittle her as if she were some dog). She was truly blessed. She gave Sasuke a sad smile. He was missing out. She looked at Naruto, "I promised Konan that I'd keep an eye on Tobi and he just got through security so I'll see you guys later, ok?"

She walked over while pulling her small, rolling, bright pink case behind her. Her shoulders stood straight and the world felt as though it had lifted off of her chest. She smiled as Tobi frantically began looking around for someone he recognized, Pein had taken off, thinking the man was following. "Hey Tobi!"

The man looked over and skipped to her side in relief. "Sakura-chan! Tobi is happy to see you."

And she was happy to see him. She took the tail of his monkey back-pack and slipped the bracelet part over her wrist, just like Konan had suggested. "I have chutes-and-ladders and candy land in my bag if you want to play a game. We have a couple hours before we need to get on the plane."

"Tobi wants to play candy land. Can we invite Sasuke-kun and his friend too?" Tobi asked, pointing ahead of him.

Sakura looked to where he was pointing. Sasuke was walking with his head down in thought and the dark atmosphere around him meant he was pissed off. Naruto walked beside him, but from the angle she really couldn't tell what he was feeling. Then the boy turned ever so slightly to look over his shoulder at her. His blue eyes sparkled and he gave a thumb up. He turned to face forwards once more, wrapping his arm around Sasuke's shoulder to console his moody best friend.

"You can ask if you want, but I'm not sure Sasuke's in the mood. Maybe Pein will join us."

It was midnight plus eleven minutes, they'd been on for a little over an hour and she was beginning to wonder why in the world she wanted to fly in the first place. She squirmed, wanting to just jam her feet into the seats before her (not because she was mad at Sasuke [for she was still mad] but) because she was just so uncomfortable. Even though she could stare out the window and see empty black space (due to cloud cover), she was not in the empty black space. If she were, she could stretch to her hearts content.

"You're about to find out why we tour in a bus," Kisame had told her before getting on, his face looking ashen. She wondered if the discomfort was what he'd warned her about. It was probably worse for a man his size.

She turned around to face him and did a double take. Poor Kisame was huddled in the seat behind her, staring out the window, looking like a fish out of water…. Or like a man about to upheave everything in his stomach. Oh boy.

Sakura unbuckled herself and turned her entire body so she could speak with him. "Do you have a bag?"

Black eyes flickered to her and as he gasped his head went from side to side. That would be a no.

"They make you pay for them," Kakuzu said, his eyes narrowing at Sakura to end the conversation.

"What?" Sakura almost laughed, "No they don't." Sakura motioned to the female attendant pouring drinks for Sasuke and Naruto. "Can I get a bag?" she asked.

"Sure," the woman smiled, her freshly applied lipstick vibrant red, "It's a dollar twenty-five, we can charge it to your seat's credit card if you want."

The credit card that bought the seat was Pein's. Sakura's face shriveled, when had anyone ever had to pay for a puke bag?

"Do the drinks cost money?" Sakura weakly asked.

The woman, with some difficulty, tore her eyes of the two men sitting in front of Sakura and looked at Sakura. "Only the alcohol and energy drinks, the others are complimentary," she said with a bright smile. She went back to gawking.

How could drinks be complimentary and not a puke bag? "Is it possible to get a bag instead of a drink?" she would forfeit her tomato juice for hair that didn't smell like stomach acid.

This time the eyes didn't look at her. "Not possible, I'm afraid," the female said. She leaned over the aisle seat to get closer to Sasuke and Naruto. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

Sakura missed the suggestive tone as she began fearing for her safety. She did not want to get sick. The person being leaned on by the attendant did though and she had something to say about it. "We're good," Karin snarled to the woman who'd been talking over her.

The attendant straightened and she fastened up her third from the top button on her uniform. Her lips twitched and then she turned to the middle section and began taking orders.

"Are you feeling ill?" Itachi asked quietly, but it wasn't quite quiet enough for two pairs of ears.

Sasuke and Naruto both turned around. "Are you ok, Sakura?" Naruto asked his big blue eyes almost over taking his face. When he was sleepy (yes, eventually the energy ran out) he was too adorable for his own good.

"I'm fine, but if the guy behind me lets it go then I'm passing it on to you," Sakura huffed, eyeing Kisame's fish gasp again. He didn't look worse… or better.

Naruto made a face and then whimpered, "I thought we were friends…" The eyes watered and for a moment Sakura almost felt guilty for threatening to harm the cute animal in front of her. She shook her head; she'd known him too long to fall for his sleepy gestures.

"And friends share," She answered quickly.

Sasuke gave a snort, but low laughter distracted the three and the newly interested red-head. Sasuke glared at Sakura's seating buddy. "What's so funny?"

"There's no need to worry. Kisame can hold it until we get off," Itachi told them, his hand holding the pen paused on the notebook he was writing on.

Sakura looked back at the man, he looked like he was dying, "I'm not so sure-"

"If he doesn't, the airline is going to be charging Pein a lot more than a dollar twenty five and an eight-month tour will be the least of our worries." Itachi told her as he capped his pen and put his notebook `away.

A cold chill made its way up Sakura's back. Why did Pein threaten them all if one person messed up? It didn't seem fair. "So we travel by bus because of Kisame?" Sakura asked, "Can't we just get him some medicine? That would be reasonable, right?

"Kisame is allergic to most medications and it's not just Kisame," Itachi commented, his head twisting to stare at the person on the other side of Kakuzu. "How are you holding up Hidan?"

Kakuzu looked like he was ready to hit Itachi as the silver-haired man, who had looked asleep, now opened his eyelashes to reveal purple eyes. "I'm holding up just _ fine, thank you. It's Jashin that needs your _ little _ sympathies. They've locked him in a cage. A _ cage!"

"Why didn't you just leave him with Konan?" Sakura asked innocently. Kakuzu eyes flashed with anger.

"That _ would just love a chance to kill him!"

Kakuzu hit Hidan as he had distracted several sleepers from their slumber.

Itachi then turned his attention to the person beside him, Tobi. The man was leaning into the aisle, soft snores coming from his direction. "Tobi's on medication," Itachi explained, "last time he was cuffed by an air marshal for suspicious behavior. And-" Itachi turned looking for the band member on the plane. "Sasori…"

The group of younger heads turned too, looking in the direction that Itachi was facing. Sasori was sitting in an aisle seat and his eyes were narrowed in slits, the little lady sitting next to him did not seem to notice though. The woman was talking while knitting with needles that were close to arm's length. Sasori wasn't looking at the woman; he was looking at the needles with an uncomfortable intensity.

"It's only a three hour flight, nothing_ should_ happen," Itachi said with finality, although his tone betrayed doubt.

"Where's Pein?" Sakura asked, realizing they were missing somebody.

"In the back, finding a dark corner to immerse himself in," Itachi then laughed, "I'm kidding. He doesn't like to have somebody behind him so he sits in the back. He can be a bit distrustful."

"Great, so we're on a flight with a bunch of freaks," Sasuke said, glaring at his brother.

"You should not be so quick to judge, brother, because the judgment may fall to you," Itachi returned, his voice once again monotonic.

Sasuke snapped back around and Naruto looked confused but then decided it was best to face forward. Karin turned around also and began trying to grab Sasuke's attention.

Sakura sighed and shifted, and then shifted again. The distraction of speaking with others was over, and now she was back to being uncomfortable. Sighing, she shifted one last time. Slipping off her shoes, she pulled her knees to her chest. It was better but not great. She pressed the back of her head against the pane of the window and looked out at the darkness. It was odd how it felt like there was absolutely nothing out there. She shut her eyes and hoped sleep would take her. Slowly, the world slipped away.

She woke with a low moan, and she reached up and rubbed her eyes. Shivering at the cold, she crammed herself against the warm presence beside her.

"Hmm?" a quiet sound rumbled in her ear.

Sakura pressed a hand to where her head was resting and pushed down to lift herself up. She turned towards the warmth and opened her eyes. A black t-shirt attached to a neck was her first sight. Her head curved up. An amused smirk looked down at her. They were breathing range close. Itachi leaned down and gave a quick peck on the lips, giving a wink as he pulled away.

Naruto's cooing about being taken by Sasuke's older brother ran across her fuzzy mind. Immediately she jolted back, slamming her head against the pane of the window. Her heart raced rapidly as some of his other instigating instances went across her mind. Still freezing, she could feel her ears reddening. There was no way. She didn't like him like that…right? Her cheeks began to feel flushed. No! It couldn't be! She'd just gotten over Sasuke; she was going to regain control of her emotions. She was absolutely not going to become a blubbering mess!

Itachi tilted his head to the side and licked his lips.

Forgetting where she was, she let out her battle cry, "Pervert!"

…

"That's it," Pein snarled as they waited at the baggage claim, "Once this cd is released we are going on tour for ten months, no holidays. Do you know how bad it looks for another member of our team to be cuffed by an air marshal in front of thirty passengers and to almost be put on the no-fly list? Well, do you?"

Sakura gulped as the entire team surrounded her, eyes glinting with anger. Why did every have to be punished for one person's mistake-she shuffled her feet wishing to disappear into the floor-it just didn't seem fair…

* * *

_Warning: I have OOC the airlines. As far as I know you do not have to pay for a puke bag; I'm sorry if some of you were concerned with that information. _

_I thought I should update something… and I really, really wanted to fit in the small prompt I did for the word Flight so I created a story around it. Well that being said I hoped you enjoyed and thank you for reading my work. I hope that it was at least somewhat interesting if not entertaining. I would be ever grateful if you left a review. A special thanks to those of you that have reviewed, I really appreciate you guys/gals taking the time to do so. _

_Thank you for reading this through and I hope you have a wonderful week. May God bless, _

_Z.z _


	7. Mr Uchiha

Band Verse

Chapter 7 – Mr. Uchiha

Sakura slammed her Volkswagen's door with a zaa-bump booty hit, her hands full of groceries. She breathed a deep sigh of relief. It was good to be home, so good. Then she blinked, realizing that it was the first time she had used the h-word on the large house before her. A small smile emerged on her face; it was good to use the word. She couldn't imagine living anywhere else, or perhaps it was she couldn't imagine living with anyone else, placement didn't matter. After all, what would she do without Itachi walking into her room like he owned it-scaring the crap out of her, or Tobi tugging on her arm wanting to play some game or another, or eating Kisame's cooking, or… The smile grew larger.

She rested down some of the bags and put her key in the door, turning it. It was nice being back in the normal routine. Being in the city had been rough. She had barely gotten to talk with Naruto, and Sasuke had continued to give her the stink eye. The talk-show had been interesting, but Pein had decided in the last minute that he didn't want to reveal her identity quite yet as the newest singer for Red Clouds. It was dangerous enough for her travel with the boys as is. It would have gotten worse until she proved herself to be a worthy enough singer to stand beside them on stage. So she would have to wait until after the cd recording and after enough people actually heard her to even try anything. The recording would be in two more weeks and she still hadn't gotten the song that the both bands would be preforming together. Naruto had been over several times already, and Itachi and Sasori had gone to him several as well. She felt bad about asking, it was obvious that it wasn't going well by the look of their worn clothes, raccoon eyes and greasy hair. She remembered when she and Naruto used to write songs. Back then it hadn't been for a career and it had taken months to prefect, but at least they hadn't been so stressed and had a lot of fun.

She picked up the bags, ready to put them in the kitchen and start dinner with Kisame. Tonight they were going to make salmon patties and he was going to hand over his top secret recipe. Inside Sakura delighted to be fully a part of everyone's life. She'd decided on the bus ride back that she would shove any discontentment out of the way, she'd made her descision to stay. This was her home now. And she was happy to be back, even from a short shopping trip. She would rather be here than anywhere else in the world. Or so she thought, until she opened the door.

It was nice to walk into a house and know it was lived in. It always made the place feel less lonely. But there came a point where it crossed the line from 'lived in' to 'robbed, held hostage and the terminator decided to show up with a flame thrower, yes flame thrower.' Sakura leaned over and touched the wall, black soot coming off and onto her finger. Her green eyes narrowed. She may be their 'housework lady' but they were about to find out she **did not** intend to clean up everything, like the shattered glass, the turned over pot of dirt, the burn marks on the wall, the broken chair, the… she didn't even know what that had once been. She quickened her pace, trying to find out where the damage stopped. She quickly walked into the living room, only to see the plasma hanging crooked with white noise on its screen. She almost ran to it—hoping beyond hope that just might still get to the Spanish soap she'd gotten used to lip syncing with Deidre—but then she froze at the person before her.

In the midst of cracked and sooted walls, broken furniture, charred floor spots was a strange man sitting cross-legged on the floor holding the hairless cat she'd come to believe hated being touched. Yet it purred enough to drown out the white noise of the tv from the stranger's petting.

After several minutes of silence between them, the man looked up at her. She looked back, feeling her anger dissipate and a fluttery feeling enter her stomach as she was taken aback by how beautiful his large black eyes were. He was clearly a cousin of Itachi's and Sasuke's, at least somewhere her mind made that connection as she gawked at the hottie. He finally smiled and she was quick to come to the conclusion that she was alone in a house with a male stranger; a mature, yet young, good-looking male stranger. She blushed… Wait, why was she alone? Oh yes, the people responsible for the damage were probably out avoiding her anger and Pein's wrath. Her eyes then looked at the scenery once more and her grip on the plastic bags tightened.

"Hello," she finally spoke, "I'm sorry the place is such a mess." She dipped her head, hoping the man didn't believe she was responsible.

"Hmm," the black eyes glittered red for a moment as they took in the scene (as if he hadn't bothered noticing before), and then he finally looked back at her. "It's quite alright." He picked up the cat and it purred even louder, its eyes closed as if enjoying the sheer touch of the man. The man then kissed the top of its bald head causing the feline to open its eyes, look up and lick him back, right on the lips.

She blushed even darker as the man smiled gently, set down the cat and began to pet it once more. Her mind was too turned to goo at seeing such a gentle and intimate action that she didn't realize the tell signs that the cat hated absolutely everyone and that the situation should have been beyond strange, and scary. Its own owner got clawed to death at being in the cat's one inch bubble.

The man looked back at her and smiled once more. They seemed to stare at each other for some time when he suddenly blink and she realized how long she'd been ogling. She opened her mouth to apologize but his low, soothing voice ran out instead.

"May I help you with the groceries Miss Haruno?"

She lost her breath when he said her name, being so caught off guard by him knowing it and how good it sounded coming off those lips… She nodded dumbly until she came to the reason as to how he knew her name. While neither Sasuke nor Itachi had bother to introduce her to this gentleman they'd obviously spoken of her. Knowing those two, it was probably only her bad qualities. She gritted her teeth. They should have been introduced properly, it was awkward now. But who was she kidding. Itachi was so narcissistic, he probably believed he deserved to take up all of her attention and Sasuke was so obsessed with Itachi to think clearly about any matter. She needed to start rethinking who she hung out with.

"I'm sorry, I don't know your name and I'm not sure where you heard mine," she lied slightly, hoping the man would tell her his name.

The black eyes looked to the side and then back at her. "I'm nobody important and I've heard much about you from a variety of sources. I've wanted to meet with you for a while but this is the first time I've…" the eyes looked down at the cat before looking again at her, "been able to escape." His smile became larger and she laughed.

"Life manages to chain us down a bit," how long had it been since she had a movie night with Ino? "I'm glad to meet you. If your days are anything like mine, I'd be surprised that you're here, Mr –"

The man picked the cat off of his lap and stood, "Uchiha, although it must be rather obvious. Now about those groceries, would you like some help?"

"Me, deny help? Never," she said, trying her best to flirt like she'd seen Ino do. He could give Sasuke and Itachi a run for the money in looks and in manners, especially in manners. She extended one of her arm loads to the man. "I have to ask though, why did you wish to meet with me."

The man carefully picked the bags from her hands. "You're the only person, outside of the Uchiha family, that has been able to befriend both Sasuke and Itachi."

"I'm not sure that me and Sasuke are _friends_," Sakura said, flinching slight at the memory that he'd completely ignored, or rather glowered, at her since the airport. They'd even been a door across from each other in the hotel in the city, and he hadn't even grunted at her in passing. "Lately he seems he's been angry more often than not with me."

"Nonsense, you weren't friends before, that's all." They walked into the kitchen, which was clean.

"Excuse me?"

"You were simply a tool to help him get where he needed to go. He didn't have a problem letting you go when you started to become a hindrance, did he? Now you've gone from some object to a person that he actually sees. Grant it, he's not quite sure how to think of you. And even though the emotion he feels toward you is caused by Itachi's interest, the fact that you stood up to him made him realize that perhaps he'd been wrong. You're now someone he'll care to have around."

Sakura began putting the groceries away. "I'm not so sure-"

He cut her off, "But that's not why I wanted to speak with you. While its good my cousins have a common friend outside the family, it is more than just your relation to those two. I wanted to speak with you because I have a request."

Sakura tilted her head in curiosity, a request from a stranger had caught her attention. Sakura turned and watched the man lean against the counter reading the back of Tobi's Fruit Loops cereal box. She crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping it wasn't something weird. "What's your request?"

He set the box on the counter and his black eyes burned like coals. "If there is ever a time when you must choose. Please stay with the Red Clouds."

The request caught her off guard, for she was used to people asking her get something or do a chore or hit somebody… "Why?" The man actually sounded concerned, which struck her as odd. Did he prefer Itachi over Sasuke for some odd reason? Maybe it was Sasuke's moodiness, it seemed to make most people dislike him.

The black eyes regarded her cooling before he replied, "You don't really understand the influence you've had on everyone. They are all recluses from society because they've always felt abnormal and excluded. All of them have always felt that they'd never be accepted by normal society, either due to their looks, beliefs, odd habits or superiority. But that has changed now, to them you are normal society and you've done more than accept them, you've become their friend. Even though they'd never say anything it is obvious in their actions. Kakuzu has never trusted anyone with handling money before, even counting it; and yet he allows you to handle the money for food expenses and help him with the spreadsheets.

"Pein has never asked for anybody's opinion but he's come for your advice several times on promotional items. Konan has never had another girl around and she's thrilled every time you do something with her. Deidre finally has someone who he can hang out with. Sasori hasn't complained about you in several months; Hidan has stopped saying he'll feed you to Jashin. Kisame has someone who likes to cook with him and enjoys his company. Itachi hasn't laughed this much since Shisui died. And Tobi…" The man then reached out and brushed her cheek, smiling softly, " he absolutely adores you. You make his precious people happy in ways he cannot and that gives him great joy. And that makes me happy as well. I might even begin to think that you have become one of his precious people."

Sakura backed up slightly from his touch that seemed too cold for a normal human to still have a beating heart. Somewhere in the conversation she'd started getting a bit creeped out, now she was feel very uncomfortable. Where was everyone? Would leave a stranger in their house unintended? No, all of them had trust issues. So who had let him in the house? She didn't feel like anybody else that lived here would give him a key so easily-except Tobi…

"So please," the man continued; his voice now in a whisper as he cleared the space between them and touched her cheek again. "Please do not betray their trust. I don't like to see them hurt; I don't believe I'd be able to tolerate it."

"Tolerate-?" Sakura stuttered at how close the man was. Sakura suddenly realized exactly why the man was acting so odd. He truly cared about everyone here. He was just trying to look out for them. She'd been defensive too about her housemates when Sasuke had said something about them. Her fear dissipated with that thought. "Even if I decided to go somewhere, Lightening Fox or not; that doesn't mean I'd ever stop being their friend. They are my precious people too, Mr. Uchiha."

The man dropped his hand and took a step back and then let out a barking laugh. "They are Tobi's precious people, not mine." He leaned back in, his eyes narrowed, "The only person I care about is Tobi; the rest of them could die and I'd be ever more the happier."

Sakura crammed herself against the cabinet and his eyes followed her like they would a spider he was about to squish with the heel of his shoe. The intensity of distaste almost had her shaking. He laughed, this time at her, before turning back to the other counter and picking up the Fruit Loops box. "Tobi shouldn't eat so much sugar. Please don't buy him so many sweets," he said, his voice having returned to its previous gentle tone. His eyes looked back at her without the distaste and a kind smile was on his face. His eyes then looked down at the hairless cat that had followed them into the room. He reached out his hand and that cat stretched out on his leg to touch its nose with the hand. He gave its head a pat.

Sakura nodded dumbly, not moving away from the corner she had shoved herself against.

Suddenly a loud thump sounded from the basement.

Mr. Uchiha gave a chuckle, "I guess my time is up. It was a pleasure meeting you."

Sakura shook her head, clearing her mind. She'd just been duped, hadn't she? She bit back a growl. "What do you mean? What was that noise-" She began demanding but was cut off.

"Jashin, don't let that man touch you!" A scream came from down the stairs.

The cat gave a hiss at hearing its owner's voice and began making figure eights through the man's legs, pressing himself against them. The man kneeled then, and kissed the top of the bald head once more, as if in goodbye.

The man stood, then turned to the counter and grabbed one of the pill containers. In one swift movement he opened the bottle and took two of the bright orange pills.

Forgetting her anger and fear, Sakura started forward. "That's Tobi's medication!" she cried as if to take the pills back.

He closed the bottle and smiled gently at her. "I know," he murmured and then he leaned forward, kissing Sakura's lips. "I hope we meet again."

The pounding of several feet rang throughout the house. By the time the kitchen door swung open and Hidan, Itachi and Kisame burst through, the site before them took them by surprise.

Sakura sat dumbly on the floor, her face flushed. The hairless cat was curled in a ball on the counter, looking smug. Tobi stood in the kitchen, orange mask tilting side to side as he sang out, "Fruit Loops! Fruit Loops!"

Hidan was first to recover, "What in the world—He changed back on his own…. Jashin, did he hurt you?" The man tried to get to the cat. The cat gave a warning hiss before it flew, claws outstretched at the man and attached itself to his face…where it began to bite and claw.

Itachi looked at Sakura and reached for her. At that moment she seemed to come to her senses and poor Itachi was the only mob in her line of sight. "All you Uchiha's are perverts!" she screamed in a battle cry. She swung a well-aimed upper cut at Itachi's jaw; he side stepped the fist. "Do you think you can do whatever you want with females? Is that it?" She was on her feet aiming a kick at his kneecap. Again Itachi moved to the side to dodge the move. Snarling, she threw another kick, "Well, I'm sick of it. You narcissistic pieces of crap!"

He grabbed her leg this time around to get her to stop. "Are you ok?" he asked, worried.

His concern made her freeze from her next planned attack, a twist and back kick. She blushed and looked at the foot she still had on the ground muttering incoherently, although Itachi picked up the words "gentleman", "good kisser", "idiot men" and "hormones". Then in one swift movement she struck out again, this time landing a hit on Itachi's stomach. He leaned over in a groan.

"Next time you see _Mr. Uchiha_ you can give him that," Sakura snarled and then stalked out of the room.

* * *

_This was meant to be a side chapter but the 'real' chapter seven ended up as trash. In the end, I think I like this piece better. Perhaps it cleared up what Tobi looks like without his mask, for Sakura wouldn't have fallen so fast after ending her crush on Sasuke… ;) _

_ I'm done giving warnings, if you've read my work thus far you pretty much know what you're getting… x . x Thank you to those who have continued to follow me, and those who have been kind enough to leave reviews; I appreciate them very, very much. I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer…in the northern hemisphere, and wonderful winters- below. Take care and may God bless – _

_Z.z _

_You may have noticed that the book cover for band verse has changed (if you looked at it previous to today). The width of the real picture didn't fit so if you'd like to actually see the real deal, __**check out my livejournal **__(link is in my profile). Also, as a special for stopping by, there is a fanfiction by the name of Refund I have put up.(Yes it will be one of my fanfictions not posted on this site) I hope you take some time to take a look. Thanks again for taking time to read, have a good day. _


	8. Overindulging

Title: Band Verse  
Chapter: Overindulging  
A/N: _YES! I got it out two before my B-day. I was actually able to set a goal and keep it. (I'm a bit ecstatic about that if you can't tell.) Anyway…  
Another chapter of Band Verse, I hope you all enjoy reading. I appreciate all of you that take the time to read my work and especially those of you who take the time review.  
Also, if you have the time, please check out the joint collaboration fiction from Hushnelle and I – Kettei de Owaru (link is on my profile).  
I hope all of you have had a wonderful week~ May God bless and keep you,  
Z.z_

* * *

He was sleeping on the grey sofa, his black hair loose, falling over his face. His eyes were hidden by the thin raven hair that looked tussled and unkempt, as if he hadn't brushed it in days. One arm supported his head and the other hung off the couch, almost touching the ground and the objects that lay upon it. The notebook that never seemed to be out of his vicinity in the recent months rested halfway on the dark black carpet and halfway on the dark red rug, which lay beneath the coffee table in front of the couch. A mechanical pencil was beside the notebook, just below the man's dangling fingers.

He hadn't awoken when she'd opened the door. And seeing him sleep, in the messed state he was in; she was decided not to wake him. A package was tucked under her arm and was the reason for her even coming in. The package was coming from Itachi's forge friend, so she assumed it was full of metal pieces and material for making a steam punk castle. That being said, the package was three times bigger than anything that had come before. She wanted to see the blueprints to know exactly what they were going to be creating, but then she'd come upon him sleeping. The package wasn't all that important; they probably wouldn't be able to work on it for another month or so anyways with the cd recording and then promotional sitcoms and late night shows they'd be traveling to.

She walked in quietly, trying hard not to make even the tiniest noise as she sat the box on the wooden coffee table. She had fully planned to leave and let the man get as much rest as he could before returning to putting the additions and last minute touches with Sasori on the rendition of 'Love in the Streets.' Instead of leaving though, her eyes happened to glance at the notebook on the floor. The notebook was a mystery to her. She didn't, nor anyone she'd asked, knew anything about what was inside.

The inner debate started then. What really was inside? Did the oh-so-mighty Itachi Uchiha actually keep a diary? A smirk made its way onto Sakura's face at the thought. If he did, who knew what sort of dirt she would find on him. Her lips then twisted slightly down at her less than innocent thought processes. If it was a diary, she probably shouldn't look at it. But it probably wasn't, right? And after all, the innocent looking, asleep man had gone through her stuff countless times. She could do it once, couldn't she? It would only be a quick look. Just a peek. He'd never know, and she'd never tell.

She rested her back gently against the leg of the couch beside the notebook as she put her rump on the floor. She wiped sweat from her brow and then she picked it up and turned to open the cover, her heart racing. It was blank though. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Her lips pouted in disappointment and she was filled with greater curiosity. Why would someone leave a blank page at the beginning unless they wanted to hide what else lay hidden inside? She knew there was at least something written, she'd seen him put that darn mechanical pencil to the paper. She turned the page. Again blank.

He was definitely hiding something.

She turned to the next, with delight. There were lines and lines of characters, but the delight quickly faded when she realized that while elegant print was beautiful it was in cursive. Nobody wrote in cursive anymore, at least that is what she thought. Even though it looked familiar, trying to decipher words made her feel like she was a third grader again, a third grader struggling to appease a teacher who was practically a writing witch. She pursed her lips together with determination, shaking the feeling of helplessness from her mind. Slowly she was able to pick out small words, then lengthier ones, until her mind made the connection with his style of print and actual letter. She smirked, all it took was patience.

They weren't just words, nor was this notebook a diary. She had thought it was poetry at first, although she should have realized from his profession exactly what it was. Lyrics. There were no keys though, or guitar chords. There were only words. She nestled into a more comfortable position before really reading the entire song.

It wasn't under the Red Clouds label. Not only had she memorized every song done by the band she worked for, she probably would have known just by reading it. The songs they did practically screamed for a pounding drum beat and roar of an electric guitar far too close to its amp. The song would need a much gentler atmosphere, an acoustic setting would probably fit it perfectly. The words had a much deeper meaning, and would probably be the emphasized portion of the piece. The Red Clouds would never be able to get away with singing something like this, their crowds were too noisy.

But it was beautiful though, in a morbid sense. The lyrics had depth and movement; she could almost feel the emotion of melancholy fall upon her as she reread the song again. She might have become a fan a long time ago if they had released something like this. Of course, execution counted too. She wondered what kind of melody Itachi had thought up for this piece.

As her eyes followed the dangling arm until she looked directly up at black hair, she fanned herself with the notebook. She wished his room wasn't so hot and that seeing him would make her hear the music that went with the piece. There was only the sound of his deep even breaths though.

This was his work, his song, his emotion. She shifted in discomfort at the last thought. The sorrow in the piece had to come from somewhere. The sense of overwhelming grief had to originate from the person who had put the words down upon the paper.

Had she any right to see into his inner being, to know his pain? This was practically a diary. Guilt filled her stomach, and her cheeks turned red. She should have just left it alone, especially when the pages were blank in the beginning, but…

Was he still hurting and grieving? Beneath his smile she knew so well, were all of these emotions brewing?

' I'm drowning in still water. And it does nothing to ease my pain. Each breath pulls me further under... '

The words were worrisome. The Red Clouds sung about independence, freedom, being radical. This was dark. She had to know more. She needed to know. This was her friend.

Her eyes looked down at the page. Of course even with his emotions there was one thing she needed to know—to hear. Where was the music that went with it?

She turned the page. It was only another song. She gave a quick flip through; there were no musical notes, no keys, nothing on any of the pages. She gave a sigh, submitting to the fact she probably would never hear the melody and turned back, reading the next song. It was still more solemn and quieter than the band's songs, although it had a lighter mood. But it was just as beautiful.

And so was the next. And the next. Each had a different theme, the tone seeming to become much lighter but it was still clearly _not_ marred with Red Clouds. It became easy, after several, to realize that this style was solely Itachi's. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to identify clips of lyrics from the concerts. She'd never really paid attention, but… Her green eyes opened, she was certain that she could identify which parts he'd written if she went back and read them without hearing the music.

She continued reading, getting lost in the work. Forgetting where she was, who she was, how hot she was, and eventually who'd even written the words. All that mattered was the lyrics: the hope and doubt, the desperation for a better future, unrequited love. Until finally she turned the page and it was blank, shoving her roughly back into reality. She flipped through quickly, wishing there was more, but there were only blank pages.

"That's all of them."

In surprise from the voice coming from behind her she fell forward, her large forehead smacking against the coffee table. She swung around, about to swear at whomever had disturbed her enough to cause her such pain. But as soon as she met black eyes, regarding her with curiosity, her mind froze. And her exact actions—what she had been caught doing—made her swallow. Already she was sweaty now her face was heating up from guilt.

"Didn't you know I was here?" he questioned; he covered his lips with his hand as he gave a quiet laugh at her expression.

She gave a nod, too tongue tied to speak. Her stomach felt like it was swelling from guilt, almost like she needed to throw up. She'd never gone through someone's things before without permission. Never. She wasn't that kind of person. She looked away from his face and back at the college ruled notebook in her hands.

"I read your songs," she admitted. She dipped her head in apology.

"I know. I've been watching you for a while now."

She raised her head, wondering why he hadn't rained down wrath upon her. By now she would have cuffed him by the ears and tossed him from her bedroom, screaming every insulting word she knew into his eardrum. But he hadn't done anything. She met his patient stare.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

"About what?" one eyebrow rose.

"Reading without your permission. They- They seemed personal…" she motioned to the notebook.

"That would be because they are."

She blushed a darker red in thought of her actions and now she truly felt as if she had to upheave everything from her stomach as guilt seemed to constrict her. She scanned his face, trying to see how upset and angry he was at her. He was probably so upset he wouldn't speak with her for at least the next several months.

To her surprise though, there was no scrunched eyebrows or narrowed, glaring eyes. His lips weren't straight and tight like he used when Sasuke was around. His hands weren't even curled into fist, instead he was propped up lazily on one hand and the other was loose at his side. He was just laying there, eyes watching her as if only mildly curious about what she was doing. But then the corners of his lips tilted up ever so slightly. He wasn't angry.

Her stomach's pressure eased slightly.

He leaned in closer to her suddenly, and her stomach reacted once again but before she could move back to avoid whatever punishment he deemed appropriate (probably death), he kissed her lightly on the lips. As he pulled away he grabbed the notebook and took it from her.

It took her several moments to process that he hadn't done anything bad, that she wasn't in any trouble. Then her eyes turned to slits and her lips curled into a snarl.

"Perv-" She opened her mouth to say the word, but then capped a hand over her mouth.

Itachi tilted his head slightly, a bit bewildered at her behavior.

She jumped from her seat and ran into his bathroom. There she promptly puked in his toilet.

"Are you alright?" he set the notebook on the table and followed her in, grabbing her hair as she continued to upheave.

"I thought," she spat out spit, "you were going to kill me."

He put a cool hand to her forehead. "You're burning up," he sighed. His eyes then widened slightly. He let go of her hair as he started rubbing at his mouth, letting loose a rare swear word (from him) in the process.

"Kisame, Sakura's sick!" Itachi yelled.

Immediately there was a loud thump and the slam of Itachi's door opening. In an instant, the tall blue man was at the bathroom door way, dressed in scrubs, outside work boots, rubber gloves, surgical mask and goggles. The man towered over them, a bucket of disinfectant and other cleaning materials in one hand. He leaned in, becoming eye level with Itachi. Then he spoke, "How long have you been exposed?"

Itachi gave a sigh. He really was going to pay for kissing the girl this time. He really needed to have some control and stop overindulging.


	9. Metal

Title: Band Verse

Chapter: Metal

_A/N: This chapter was extremely difficult to write for some reason and I am sorry it took so long to update. Also, I have switched pc's and no longer have my normal grammar program, I have used fanfiction's default, but I'm certain it doesn't catch everything. If you see something wrong or want to volunteer to beta, please send me a PM; I could use all the help I can get._

_ I hope you all enjoy and I truly appreciate everyone who has reviewed, thank you._

* * *

It was strange to not hold a microphone. The a feeling was wrong. As she looked up at the mic suspended in air, the stone in her gut seemed to become heavier. She was an alright singer, but she was nothing compared to the soothing baritone of Itachi, Kisame's base, Naruto's and Sasuke's tenors and even Karin's spinto soprano. She was completely average. Every voice coach had told her so from elementary to high school. So what was she doing in a room full of two bands that were competing in millions of sales? Singing. Yes, that was what she was asked to do.

It wasn't as if she feared the bands in particular, they were her friends and would never judge her (with the exception of Karin, who was already glowering at having to share a microphone). But she was scared of disappointing them. It felt as if they had high expectations and, looking down at the lyrics, it wasn't hard to come to that conclusion. They hadn't given her anything, not even a starting note, not the key, nothing but words on a page. Karin on the other hand had her part clearly marked… of course it was far too high for Sakura to even think of singing.

She glared over at Itachi, who looked to be in a deep conversation with all the string players about the upcoming piece. All he'd said when she asked was, "You have a good ear; you'll do fine." It was more like he simply forgot. Or this was his way of extracting revenge, for peeking in on his notebook and giving him the 24hr flu. She couldn't do this. She couldn't. She closed her eyes, willing her heart to stop beating so rapidly and the pain it caused to ebb away. It didn't though. She looked at the words on the page. Where did she sing them? When was she supposed to come in? How loud, how soft? Was she supposed to be doing harmony, melody or switch between the two? Why had nobody thought to give her any clue at all? Did they expect that she would be able to join in on a song she'd never heard before? Her vision began to blur.

She took a deep breath and then noticed people beginning to separate. She was about to yell at Itachi, to tell him he was being an idiot, but she was too late.

"We are ready to start," Sasuke said, giving a tap on the glass window, breaking up the conversation between Pein and Orochimaru. Sasuke looked more peeved than her; in fact, he looked more than ready to start yelling every time Naruto ran over to Itachi and Sasori to get them to change a part with him. Perhaps he thought Naruto had left him for Itachi too.

Sakura shifted uneasily, maybe he was in worse shoes than her. After all, he hated this band's guts, and having to make a record with them…

Sasuke's black eyes shifted to her. He was glaring. As if this was her fault. Well, it wasn't. Sakura could feel her eye twitching in anger; he'd get no pity from her. She glared right back.

The drummers took off immediately, the pounding beat vibrating her entire body. It was a good thing she was wearing a headset, her eardrums would have likely been blown if not. After several measures Kisame joined in with the cello and Sasori with an electric viola. Then the guitars, bases and piano started.

They were all professionals. She couldn't hear one wrong note, everything seemed perfect. Naruto's pitch was no longer young and shaky; Sasuke no longer tried to overpower Naruto's voice like when he was younger. Karin, although Sakura hated to admit it, had an amazing pair of vocals.

When the song was done, Sakura's mouth was slightly agape. It was only when Itachi smacked her upon the head did she realize that midst the entire piece she hadn't sung one line. Not one. She'd been too caught up in the music.

She flushed red with embarrassment. Apologies sprung from her mouth like a geyser. She couldn't believe what she'd done, everybody had done such a good job and yet she'd done absolutely nothing. She wasn't cut out for this. She wasn't some superstar.

"It's fine Sakura. We have to do it again anyways, the drummers were rushing," Naruto tried to comfort her with a reassuring smile. And with saying that he left to deal with the Tobi and Juugo, who'd gotten into an argument about who'd started it.

No one else seemed to notice or care, even Karin only gave a shrug to her as she went to go talk to Sasuke. Everybody seemed to break off into their own little groups and leave the room, leaving Sakura somewhat perplexed.

"You didn't really think that we'd put a first run through on the album, did you?" Itachi asked.

Sakura blushed, it had sounded good to her.

He got his music from the piano while he continued, "Everybody is going to break up to practice; your with me." He motioned with one hand for her to follow as he picked up his backpack from the ground.

The room they entered only had a piano, and Itachi sat on the bench and placed his hands carefully over the keys. "Now that you've heard the song, any preference in melody or harmony?"

She stared at him, astonished. Her largest singing audience had been fifty at people max.

He smirked and patted the seat next to him, for her to sit down. Her body followed, but her mind was still trying to understand the question.

"You're singing harmony, there was no option."

She hit him on the shoulder. He was just trying to get her to relax, it wasn't working though. The lump was still in her stomach and she felt like vomiting. There was too much pressure.

"Why do I even need to do this?" Maybe she could find a way out.

"We want you to be more than just our announcer."

Sakura blinked, and looked up at Itachi in confusion.

"You are our friend, part of our crew and we want assurance that you will remain with us. Announcer's tend to come and go."

She watched his expression looking to see if he really meant what he said. He didn't flinch. "You guys are my friends, I'm not leaving anytime soon."

"But you admit that eventually you'll leave."

Sakura looked at her hands, "I didn't mean it like that. I still want to go into medical school; I want to be a nurse and help save lives."

He turned back to the keyboard. "What if you were an actual member of Red Clouds. If you became one of the most renowned artists in the world, would you still return to school and get a medical degree?"

Would she? Would she leave if she was part of one of the best musician groups in the world, if everyday her music touched the lives of her listeners? Could she give up the 'fame and fortune', realistically? Her head sagged slightly. "No, I wouldn't." Its a sharp pinch in her side, admitting she would give up one dream for another.

Her eyes met his as he looked at her once more. "Then please don't brush this off. We won't record with you if you're not good enough, that is a promise. We are top end groups and we cannot afford such an error."

She gulped, and her heart hammered more in her chest, this time in pain. In the end she wouldn't be singing with them.

He turned back to the keyboard and began playing the melody to song. "If it's any consolation, we would not have offered if we thought you weren't good enough. That being said, the choice is up to you. If you don't want this, you can leave and wait in the lobby with Konan. Practicing would be a waste of both of our time, if you are not going to give your all. But before you leave, think hard on it. You'll live the rest of your life wondering whether you really could have made it big."

She continued to stare at her hands, not daring to look up at him. It was a lot to think about.

"So tell me, Sakura Haruno, what do you want?"

She was at a loss for words; it was the first time Itachi had ever been so direct with her. She was terrified, terrified of making a fool of herself. But, it would be the experience of a lifetime, to travel around the world with Red Clouds, sing with them on stage, be equal.

"I want to but-" She closed her eyes, wincing as she went over every single blunder she'd ever made on gigs when she'd been in high school.

"No buts. If you want it, then do it."

The blunt statement gave her a small amount of courage. Her heart was still going at the same rate, her hands still shaking. But she did want this. She wanted to live the rest of her life living in a madhouse, traveling on bus, being with the coolest and strangest people she'd ever met. "Ok."

He gave one of his smirks, and then stopped playing. He reached into the bag at his feet and then hit her in the chest with a binder that looked identical to the ones the rest of the band had gotten this morning. His fingers returned to the keyboard.

She opened it, seeing the measuring bars, Naruto's part and that of a piano. She flipped through, noticing the whole rests on the top part. Eventually there it was. Her name was on top of the treble clef on page five. _Sakura. _Her part was clearing marked, every word she was to sing as well. Instant relief hit her hard.

"You didn't think a professional would let an amature make up their own part, right?"

He took the binder away from her and kept it open to where her spot started. Her mouth was agape, and then she shut it. Majority of her panic had come solely from only being given a lyrical sheet. "You kept this from me?" she yelled, furious.

He smirked, "I thought you needed to be taught a lesson. You shouldn't have read my compositions without permission."

"You! YOU ASS-"

He blew her off, "We only have thirty minutes to practice so channel your anger. Your part doesn't start until the bridge, then you'll be singing harmony with Naruto until the last repeat of the chorus, at that point you and Karin will both be singing the chorus and Naruto will be holding onto some key lines." He started playing then, and she had no choice but to try to keep up.

It took two days for all the edits to be perfected and then it came down to making sure there were no mistakes made during the real playthroughs.

Sakura had become more comfortable with the floating piece of metal, and sharing it with the woman beside her. Surprisingly, after only sitting on the same couch for a quick-lunch on the first day, they'd gotten along quite well. The woman had a prickly exterior, but as soon as she'd learned Sakura was no longer interested in Sasuke, it was like a floodgate had opened.

While Naruto might have said Karin only got the part because she was a god-daughter (basically daughter since Karin's parents were deceased), the woman deserved her place in the band. She had a Masters in Musical Performance, scoring in the top ten percent of her graduating class. She was even willing to give Sakura some pointers after Sakura offered some advice about how to handle Tobi. After the breakthrough, Itachi had noted that their voices were melding well together.

It was close to 8pm when they finally began the last run of the day (a day which started at 5am). The time before had been almost perfect (a crash cymbal had been accidentally hit during the second chorus) so everyone had extremely high hopes. The energy, which had drained, was back.

By the time it was to the end, and the only thing left was the vocals and the bass drum of a heart beat, everyone knew that this was going to be it. The last part was here.

Sakura and Karin gave a nod, smiling and ready to come in.

"This is the dawn~," Naruto's voice rang out.

"Dawn of my beginning,

no more pretending,

and no more backing down," both girls sang in reply.

"For I am strong~"

"Stronger with each drop of blood,

each passing throb,

of my heart tells me I'm here."

"I'm alive~"

"And I will continue to survive."

The last two eighth note drum beats echoed in their ear pieces, then all went silent. Eyes went to the glass, and then Deidara gave the thumbs up. Everyone let loose the breath they'd been holding and then Naruto let loose a loud "BELIEVE IT" nearly deafening everybody who still had their ear pieces in. The mood lightened considerably and a round of drinks was being called for.

Then the managers walked in, quick to remind everyone that both bands still had separate songs to do. Red Clouds still had to record 'Love in the Streets' and Lightening Fox, 'Fallacious Misery'.

By the end of the week, Sakura was completely down and out. It was a lot of hard work. She'd also only gotten a couple of hours of sleep and several 5-hour energies were the only things keeping her eyes slightly open. The same lack of sleep was the reason she was completely dumbfounded by what Sasuke had just said.

He'd come over and sat down across from her, and for several minutes had looked to be in deep contemplation. When he'd broken out of it, he'd spoken with his eyes focused on the magazine cover on the table between them.

"Huh?" Sakura questioned, not quite sure she'd heard correctly or that he'd directed the question at her.

His black eyes went up and stared directly at her, "Would you like to join Lightening Fox?"


	10. Emphasis, Strange

_Title : Band Verse _

_Being an singer for a band seems easy, it's not. Include being asked to join a rival band, choosing sides, and befriending a cat makes the whole situation a lot more hectic...At least mentally. AU_

_Contains: Emphasis and Strange_

_A/N: Sorry for such a long update on a cliff hanger, but I hope you enjoy. Thanks to all of you who've reviewed, I greatly appreciate it. _

**Emphasis **

"_Would you like to join Lightening Fox?" _

The question echoed down the hallway to where the rest of them had been walking.

Itachi could feel the cold silence coming from the band behind him. He'd been wondering when his brother would ask. Hearing Sakura perform at such a high level would make any band want her. But even though Itachi knew it was coming, it didn't help. His hands had formed into fists, and a pang of fear shot through his chest. Being left behind. It was something all of them feared. They'd all been left before, and the thought of being left again...

Sasori and he had discussed it at length when they needed a break from song writing. They had determined that the risk of her discovery would be worth the pay-off. Especially when both were extremely confident in her loyalty; but being confident and fact were two different things.

In reality, Sakura had a choice. It was her life and she could do what she wanted with it.

He'd been prepared for it, but… A sideways glance revealed Kisame's face set in a stern glare. It was obvious Kisame hadn't ever thought of the possibility of Sakura leaving. The man's eyes had narrowed into black slits in fury at Sasuke's invitation. His blue nostrils flared, taking a steep breath like a bull about to charge.

Kisame quickened his step, about to burst in on the two in the small sitting area, when Itachi grabbed his elbow. The black eyes met and Kisame's glare increased. He yanked his arm away and continued forward. The rest of the band held back, fearful of the answer.

He marched directly into the room, right up behind Sakura. Kisame placed one hand on the chair and leaned over Sakura to staring directly into Sasuke's eyes. "She won't be _joining_ Lightening Fox."

Sakura, who hadn't realized Kisame had even arrived, jumped in the air and banged her head against the tall blue man's jaw.

"Its her decision," Sasuke replied blandly, eyes fixated on the people behind Kisame, namely Itachi.

His brother was right. This was Sakura's choice, not theirs. Kisame was just going to make it worse, to actually go so far as to tell Sakura she couldn't join. Nobody liked to be told what to do.

All eyes went to Sakura, but she seemed too much in pain to reply as her hands rubbed at her head where she'd ran into Kisame's chin. When she finally recovered, she glanced around, noticing the attention.

"You don't speak for her," Sasuke said mockingly to reinforce his point.

Itachi was surprised at how cool Sasuke was acting. An angry Kisame was like seeing a murderer make you his next target. But Sasuke wasn't focused on Kisame, they were focused on him, so it was likely Sasuke didn't know the dangerous position he was in. Kisame only had to, after all, take two more steps to be within striking distance.

The blue man was like a wound coil, so tense his shoulders were jarred back. He didn't back down. Sasuke's words seemed to just float over him. Kisame still hadn't realized that by demanding something of Sakura, he may have limited their chances of actually having her stay. Instead he stuck by his original stance. "She won't be _joining_ Lighting fox."

Sakura's face turned bright red in anger, but instead of turning on Kisame, she faced off with Sasuke.

"He's right," she snarled. "I wouldn't be_ joining _Lightening Fox; I'd be_ returning_. Or did you forget that?"

Itachi took the wide eyes of his brother to be a yes. Sasuke had forgotten that Sakura had originally been in their band, before fame and fortune. Even he'd forgotten about that.

Was Kisame some brilliant genius? Catching Sasuke's slip up and knowing he could use it to their advantage. But looking at Kisame's defensive position, Itachi realized the man hadn't walked in because he wanted her to stay with them. Kisame was mad because of the insulting statement Sasuke had made concerning Sakura. The man was extremely sensitive to the people he cared about, and almost immune to implications concerning himself.

The hovering stance, becoming like a cave surrounding Sakura, was projecting the same aurora he used in highschool when Tobi used to get picked on. There was no side, in Kisame's mind, there had never been. Unlike the rest of them, who saw Sakura as a person who could cross a line and leave them, Kisame had never truly believed in a line. Sakura would be a friend regardless of her where she went. And as her friend, he saw it has his duty to protect her.

Sakura's face became maroon and she took a deep breath, about to yell, when suddenly she looked up. The only thing she could see was a blue chin (as Kisame was still leaning over sending death glares at Sasuke). Her mood changed and she calmed down. "My answer to both is the same. No. I already have a band or a home to be more precise."

She then stretched, yawning, and when she raised her hand she lightly faked a punch at Kisame's cheek.

He glanced down at her, his eyes still not losing their testy edge.

"Ready to go home?" she asked.

He smiled then, revealing all of his sharp teeth, "Yup."

"Tobi's hungry."

Sakura turned to look at everyone, surprise evident on her face.

"Ya, I'm starved too," Hidan said, turning his back to the affair. The lack of cursing and actual compliance with Tobi's demand revealed just how upset he'd been. Of course, he then had to instigate a fight, "We're all tired lets just grab food on the way."

Kisame's nose twitched, eating out was something he did not do.

"Or we can stop and grab ice cream," he said continuing to dig himself a deeper grave with everybody in the room.

"Tobi wants ice cream! Tobi wants ice cream!" The masked man started chanting.

Pein gave a soured expression and Konan looked as though she was about to take the origami flower out of her hair and use it like a ninja throwing star. It was easy to tell that Kakuzu was calculating how much this venture would cost by the way his eyes kept flicking back and forth.

"Tobi want's eight toppings!"

Kakuzu's eyes began burning holes in the back of the white haired man.

Sakura could only laugh. This was definitely where she belonged. "We have a gallon of vanilla at home," she said, after all it was her job to know how much of groceries were in the house. "And I believe we have some skittles too."

"Vanilla and Skittles. Vanilla and Skittles," Tobi began.

"We'll have some tacos tonight, if we don't cook the chicken it will go bad," Kisame commented, and his glaring gaze turned to Hidan as if daring him to try and start some debate on where to eat.

They began filing out, and it was only halfway down the hall that Sakura remembered Sasuke. She turned, and saw him gazing into his hands. He seemed to be having an internal debate, as if the thought of her saying no had never occurred to him. She was surprised at herself, surprised that for several years the words Sasuke had spoken had the been her deepest desire and yet today she'd said no. In fact, she felt better for having said it. It was as if she finally taken hold and decided her own fate. Walking out the door would seal it. She turned and looked at the exit.

Everybody else had left except Itachi. And he was waiting beside the door with a concerned look on his face. She wondered whether he thought her hesitation was a sign she wasn't sure about her decision. So she straightened her back and smiled at him.

He smiled in return and extended his hand to the doorway, for her to walk through.

"Tell the others I'm going to be catching a cab. I need to speak with Sasuke about something," he told he.

She glanced between the brothers, wanting to know what he wanted to talk about, but then noticed Itachi's hand was still extended. He wanted to have the conversation in private.

She gave a nod and walked out.

Itachi shut the door and then walked back to the sitting area. He sat across from Sasuke, where Sakura had been, and waited.

When Sasuke eventually looked up his eyes met with Itachi's.

"Guess I can't blame this one on you, can I?" Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His hands then returned his side and balled into fists. They shook for an instant before Sasuke seemed to realize who was before him. His face contorted slightly, but the quivering stopped. "Why are you still here; shouldn't you be partying with them?"

"I'd rather be with you," Itachi said with a slight smile, leaning in a bit suggestively.

Sasuke blinked in surprise at the lack of monotone and then made a face, "That's something you should be saying to a girl."

"Hn."

Sasuke face returned to a scowl. "I don't need your pathetic pity."

Itachi narrow his eyes. "I didn't come here to pity you."

"Then why are you here? Are you going to tell me exactly what I should say, how I should act-"

Itachi poked Sasuke's head, causing him to shut up. "I just wanted to tell you that you did well today and that I hope to get a chance to do a collaboration with you."

Sasuke looked away, a bit embarrassed, "Yeah, our bands melded pretty well together. You, Naruto and Sasori did a good job on the song. I'm sure our managers will put us together again."

Itachi sighed then, causing Sasuke to look up. The older man had stood. "I said, I want to do a collaboration _with you_ not with Naruto." At the blonde's name, Itachi made a face. He gave another sigh before heading to the door.

"But until then," he glanced back, his eyes steely and voice monotonous, "try to get your sales back. Its bad enough you've never passed us in sales, it reflects poorly on me if you let yourself drop any lower than you already have."

Sasuke's face switched from pleasant surprise to a fuming scowl and his lips turned into a snarl. "I am going to beat you!"

With his back turned, Itachi smiled although he kept his tone even. "Bring it little brother."

**Strange**

It was the first time in years she'd awoken without an alarm or someone waking her up. Namely because the the alarm, her phone, was dead in her purse. They'd stayed up late, all of them, even though they'd been so tired. The food had been delicious and then they'd settled down, drinking quite a few bottles of wine.

It had been the first time she'd seen Tobi drink and she was more surprised at the fact the boyish man could hold so much liquor. In fact, he'd beaten them at Apples-to-Apples, Imagine-iff and several other games they'd played. She had kept herself to minimum since half of the people in the house weren't known for being normal when they were sober. In case anything happened, Konan and she had decided just to have a glass each.

That was her conclusion as to why the house was so quiet. Normally she would have been awoken by running feet (Tobi), a screeching cat (Hidan), or a pervert (Itachi) creepily opening the door to her room to watch her sleep or go through her stuff. She stretched lazily, wondering if she should take advantage of sleeping in. She decided that she would and then rolled onto her side. It was then she out a hoarse half-awake scream.

Staring directly at her with two golden irises was a hairless cat. The ears went back in distaste and it gave a hiss, although it did not move its body from the pillow that it had claimed as its own. After fully identifying the creature, Sakura glared at it. It glared back. The glares continued for several more minutes.

Sakura didn't want to touch it. Jashin was known to go into a frenzy at being in a more distant situation than she was now. She'd awoken in a good mood, not that she was in one anymore, but she still didn't want to ruin her morning by being scratched to death. Why the cat wasn't with Hidan surprised her. How the cat got into her room surprised her. Hell, why the cat hadn't attacked her surprised her.

Eventually the cat moved. It rolled onto its back, eyes still staring at her, to reveal its hairless stomach. It was like an open invitation to give him a pet.

"I don't think so," she told him, eyes narrowed. "I'm not falling for that one." The second her hand made contact the cat would probably attach itself to her and not let go.

The cat let out a sneeze and went back to laying flat, as if understanding she'd read his mind. He then purred and stretched out, sharp nails digging into her pillow, taunting her to toss him from her bed. Of course, she knew he'd only jump back on the bed and bite her until she screamed enough bloody murder to wake Hidan from his drunken slumber so that he became the next target.

Instead she kept calm, keeping a steady unbreaking stare with the eerily friendly acting cat.

Jashin tried another tactic. It yawned and edged closer to her, testing her ability to remain as stiff as a board. The yellow eyes got closer and closer to her face, until she could feel the faint breath upon her cheeks. She was scared it was going to bite her on said face, but before she could back out it closed the distance.

She closed her eyes waiting for the worst when instead her cheek was brushed with wrinkled flesh. She blinked and watched the cat slide down her, purring as it positioned itself so that his shoulder was under her chin. The tail gave one a small flip as if delighted he'd caused her so much panic.

Cautiously, she rose one hand and scratched the cat behind the ears. It gave a soft pur. Perhaps she was still asleep?

The cat rose against her hand, body thrumming. It then turned and crawled over her, onto a black clothed figure.

Instead of screaming, she jolted away, falling off the bed in the process.

"Good morning, Sakura," the man said gentle as he took up petting the cat in her stead.

"Mr. Uchiha," Sakura growled as she sat up. Her eyes barely could see him, as she peeked over her bed. Seeing the wide black eyes made her cheeks reddened at the memory of their last meeting.

"Its been awhile." The voice was just as eerily calm. He brushed at the cat's head and and it fell against him, a purring mess.

With hindsight she should have known exactly why the cat was acting so strange.

"Not long enough." Sakura bit out.

The man's lip twisted into a smile, "I fully agree."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and then pulled herself to her feet. "Then why are you here?"

"Since it seems you're going to be sticking around, its time for us to layout some ground rules," Mr. Uchiha said, narrowing his eyes as well. He rose too, and then gave a stretch. The cat followed suit.

"Ground rules?" Had the maniac actually come her room to lay out 'ground rules'? Well she'd play along with it. "How about rule one don't enter someone's room without permission."

His black eyes squinted, as if the matter were laughable, and then continued on, ignoring her statement, "Now, Tobi is not allowed to drink so much alcohol. In fact, he isn't supposed to have any with his medication. I would think as a responsible adult you could handle such a simple task. I am letting you know now and I've already given a reminder to Konan. No alcohol. Agreed?"

The same soft look had entered his eyes at the name Tobi. Sakura felt just a bit guilty thinking the man was here for some mischievous reason, like Itachi. He was just looking out for the kid. She gave a nod.

"Good. I hate to reinforce points but do not try my patience." That had been a threat.

Sakura opened her mouth to object, but the man cut her off.

"Second, Tobi is to be in bed by 10 and up by 8. A constant schedule and good sleep is imperative to his health. He was up late last night and I have no tolerance on this matter."

Sakura's mouth continued to hang. He didn't give any room to talk.

"And, about Itachi. I was thinking that-" The man was cut off as a loud bang of a door was followed by a shrill scream.

It was Hidan. "Konan I didn't do it, you crazy a- b-!"

Sakura gulped as the man before her smiled ferally. She remembered he'd said he'd given a _reminder_ to Konan. The black eyes focused on her, the red glimmer in them unmistakable. "Like I was saying, I think the two of you would make a decent couple, but-"

A shrill scream from downstairs echoed up into her room.

"Don't hurt him. Because if you do, you'll end up hurting Tobi. And if you hurt Tobi, I will hurt you."

A shiver ran through Sakura's spine and murderous intent coming off the man beside her made her want to curl up into a corner and hide. It was then that her door opened with a massive bang and the person who entered no longer had blue hair. The woman's hair was black, her makeup black, her origami flower black. But it was a natural black, it looked to be permanent marker black.

Konan launched herself at the man across the bed, the cat launched itself at Konan. And Hidan, sporting a start of a black eye, launched itself at Jashin.

A mad brawl seemed to erupt in her bedroom, as Konan attempted to rip the clawing cat off her and throw it at Mr. Uchiha, who looked on with smirk on his face. Hidan, seeing was Konan was trying to do, grabbed at Konan's black hair to get her drop the cat. The screaming coming from the three angry creatures was like an overwhelming, hideous noise.

"You piece of-"

"Let go of Jashin, don't throw him you-"

And then there was the one calm voice that rang out through it all, "Next time, I suspect you'll remember our agreement."

The scene was cut off as she was yanked backward into the hallway. She looked up into Pein's annoyed stare. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was holding one hand to his head. Hangover. Without another word, he walked into the room and shut the door behind him. After several crashes, screams, and yells (although none belonging to Pein); there was silence.

After a minute the door opened and the man walked out. Sakura was about to go back in when the man gave her a curt order, "Go help Kisame with breakfast." He glared at her when she hesitated. And that was a scary enough threat that she retreated down the stairs with all haste, running directly into Itachi's chest.

The man blinked twice, and then smiled hugging her. "Morning, I was about to come up and wake you."

More like creepily stare at her. She pulled back ready to punch him in the throat for such close contact, when Mr. Uchiha's words cut into her mind. No hurting Itachi. She shivered making a face as she wondered exactly what the man would do to her that could rival what had happened to Konan.

Itachi paused in the act of rubbing her back, surprised at the lack of reaction. It was then a haughty meow pronounced its presence from the top of the staircase. The cat looked upon them like underlings, and then trotted down the staircase stopping beside them. In a half-a-second it brushed itself against Sakura's right leg in affection before continuing on its journey.

Both looked questionably at the cat, but it only flicked a tail at them as it turned and went into the bathroom. Sakura had passed some otherworldly feline test and from that day onwards was able to get into close proximity to the cat without getting bit.

Itachi was the first to recover from the incident and tightened his hold on Sakura's small frame. By the time Sakura was jolted from her thoughts, Itachi was smelling her hair.

"Pervert!" She cried, gut punching Itachi. Instead of sticking around, to hit him again, she fled; terrified that the man upstairs knew what she had done.


	11. Drawing Conclusions

Synopsis: Being a singer for a band isn't easy - include people snapping after week 2 of a 6 month tour, hiding a notebook and being accused of world domination and the whole situation becomes a lot more hectic… at least mentally. AU - so obviously some OCness ;)

* * *

** Drawing Conclusions**

Touring by tour bus was both fun and annoying. It was fun in the sense you could move around, sit where you like and you didn't have to share a bathroom with strangers. But after the second day aboard, personality conflicts and craziness always began to fly. Tobi would suddenly jump up and tackle whomever was across from him - normally Deidara. Sasori would begin having full out conversations with his many puppets, which he kept in a trunk never far out of his reach. Conversing with puppets would have been fine, except the conversations were complaints or plans to eliminate the people around them that couldn't appreciate eternal art - normally Deidara. And then of course there was the smell that eventually came from the litter box, regardless of how clean Hidan kept it.

By the second week everyone was bored and irritable. Kisame hadn't gotten to make a decent meal since they'd left, as the kitchen was considered too small to flip an egg in. Kakuzu was upset about the random soda someone would buy at a gas station that hadn't been budgeted for. Konan had used up all of her paper making flowers and cranes. Deidara was getting pissed at getting picked on by Sasori and Tobi. Hidan was beginning to worry about Jashin's lethargic behavior.

Itachi, Sakura and Pein were the only people that were still retaining sanity on the bus. Sakura was currently sitting in what she considered the best seat. She was between Itachi and the window at the kitchen booth. While typically she'd be slightly worried at having Itachi as a seating buddy, when the rest of the bus was slowly growing crazy she was happy to have him between her and everyone else. He also had kept more to himself, scribbling in his notebook. She'd desperately wanted to look, but when she'd last tried he'd blocked her view with his arm.

Itachi's notebook was the real reason she hadn't gone insane like the rest of the passengers on the venture. Even though she only remembered a couple of Itachi's songs, the musician side of her couldn't help the desire to put it to music. Obviously Itachi would be furious of the copyright infringement, but that was only if he found out she was using his lyrics. It was only a personal project, one to keep her from boredom. She had no intention of using the song for her own personal gain - just for her own use. She used the ipad for instrument reference, although they couldn't do the real ones justice, and kept a musician journal of the actual songs.

So far it had been a nice break from the hectic world around her of mutinous puppets and tackling huggers. But eventually they seemed to notice she wasn't going crazy with them.

She was tapped on the shoulder by Tobi, so she pulled out one of her headphones.

"What are you up to, Sakura?" Tobi asked innocently.

Sakura blinked. She couldn't very well say she'd stolen Itachi's songs. Immediately she flipped her notebook shut and closed her ipad. "Nothing."

That got everybody's attention, even Pein was looking at her through the mirror he'd set up to keep an eye on Tobi.

She blushed, trying to calm the now suspicious glances she was getting. "Just playing a game… you know…" goodness she was an awful liar.

"What kind of game?" Tobi was now using the cutesy voice.

She grappled for an idea of a game, but nothing concrete came. If she said Candy Saga, Tobi would rip the ipad out of her hands before she finished talking. "A game thats…" what was something Tobi wouldn't play. "A game thats inappropriate for Tobi." Everyone's eyebrows raised and Sakura could feel her face light up. Maybe 'inappropriate' had been a bad word choice on her part.

"Why are you taking notes on a game thats inappropriate?" Sasori questioned through his old lady puppet.

Itachi wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaned in close to her face. "A virgin has every right to take notes."

She smacked him with the notebook and attempted to climb out of her seat. To which he made an innuendo as she tried to climb over him, which earned him another smack and a "Pervert!"

When she had successfully freed herself, she straightened her clothes, met everyone's stares and then fled to the only safe haven on the motor home, the master bedroom. In other words Jashin's bedroom. The cat's ears flicked forward at her entrance, but it made no other move when it saw it was her. Sakura shut the door and made her way to the opposite side of the bed from the cat and sat down. She gave the cat a good glare, "If you turn on me, I will kill you."

The cat purred at the threat and began inching closer to her.

* * *

"What do you think is in the book?" Deidara asked, latching onto the only interesting thing to happen on the very uninteresting trip.

"Tobi thinks she's writing a romantic comedy about her and Itachi set in a time where there are modern ninjas. Sakura is probably on a team with Sasuke and Naruto, and Itachi is a really good ninja but is awkward in social situations so he comes off as mean, clueless but endearing. Since Itachi is a really good ninja and Sakura isn't, Itachi takes Sakura under his wing to make sure she is able to be a good teammate to his brother. His action towards Sakura though draw the attention of a very famous smut novelist -"

At the awkward silence, Tobi shut his mouth and turned his head to whisper to no one in particular, "Tobi thought it was a good idea for a story."

"Maybe she's been writing down the conversations you've been having Sasori," Itachi said ignoring Tobi's outburst, "Just incase you ever decide to go through with any of your plans."

"I think its more sinister than that," Kisame said mysteriously. Kisame frowned and tapped his chin. "Its obvious she's in cahoots with the demon cat-"

"My cat is not a demon!"

"-so it must be something quite terrible."

Itachi tilted his head to the side, a bit in disbelief.

Everybody else though had latched themselves onto the idea. "Its probably plan to kill us all," Sasori's old lady spoke again.

Suddenly laughter could be heard from the bedroom. "Stop - Stop it!" Sakura could be heard crying in laughter. Everybody now shivered in unison and in belief of Kisame's words.

"I think its worse than I originally assumed," Kisame said.

"How can it get worse than that?" Deidara asked.

"It must be a plan for world domination," Pein muttered darkly, as if she'd beaten him to it. He returned his eyes to the road glowering.

"Yeah right," Deidara said sarcastically, laughing.

"No," Kisame said, holding up a hand for silence. "Think about it. The cat hates everybody - its probably a plan to start the apocalypse."

Itachi sighed and everybody turned to him for his two cents. He stood and walked to the back of the trailer.

The cat had crept up until it was on her lap, it then begun nuzzling her to death in her most ticklish spot, her armpit. After it had made her cry with laughter and the cat had deemed its torture thorough, it had stretched out on her lap. One paw had reached out, laying on top of the notebook that sat beside her.

Thus when Itachi opened the door to steal a peek, what he saw enforced everyone's earlier assumptions.

He quietly shut the door behind him and then walked back down the hall of beds to the rest of the crew in the living area.

Everyone else looked at him expecting an answer.

He could only nod his head. "The cat is in on it."

"We're all going to die!" Deidara wailed.

Itachi ripped a blank page out of his notebook. "Regardless of the exact intention, we know they are dark if the best cover story she can come up with is an 'inappropriate game.' We have to get that notebook to ensure our survival," he said seriously. He then scribbled at the top of the blank page 'Plan: Retrieve Notebook of Doom.'

* * *

The second she walked off the bus to stretch she knew something was off. There seemed to be a three foot bubble between her and everyone else, Itachi included which was hard to believe. It was there, and every time she turned her back she could feel their stares. She was a bit surprised that one little white lie had made them mad. She thought of telling them the truth but immediately couldn't fathom the shame of confessing her crime to Itachi. Taking someone else's work was horrible. Yet she still couldn't help working on the project. That being said, her good relationship with Itachi was something she didn't want to lose. So she kept her lips zipped.

The more she watched everyone though, the more she got the feeling they weren't mad. They seemed suspicious - mischievous like. That was what made Sakura pause. The lot of them were up to no good. They were going to try and take her notebook. Thankfully Jashin had declared the bedroom off limits and he had decided to sprawl across her notebook when she had gotten him off her lap. They wouldn't dare move him, knowing he'd attach with vengeful blood lust. Right?

She caught Hidan out of the corner of her eye making a move back towards the door of the moving home. He would be the one to send in. He didn't care if the cat attempted to kill him.

"Hidan," she called sweetly, making the man swing around looking guilty. "Would you help me with moving the cooler so we can refill it with fresh water?"

Hidan opened his mouth, to decline in a vulgar manner when the dark 'I caught you in the act' look crossed her face. She'd had years of practicing said face, being best friends with Naruto who was always up to some prank. Therefore Hidan was hit with a fully potent look akin to the power of an Uchiha death glare. He could only nod dumbly at her and do her bidding.

"Did you see that look?" Deidara whispered hoarsely as he hid behind the back of the motorhome. "She's totally on to us. What are we going to do?" He looked to the person leaning nonchalantly against the back of the motorcoach.

"We move to plan B," Itachi said, looking at the paper in his hands, "and I suggest that we be quick about it before our fates are sealed." Itachi then tapped the person crouched to his right. "You're up, Tobi."

Tobi crawled underneath the vehicle, creeping towards the door. The second he saw the signal, a wave from Itachi, he shot out and went through the door. He then proceeded with excessive caution. Walking on the very tips of his toes he made his way to the master bedroom. He opened the door slowly and looked through the opening, keeping his body behind the door. He spotted the notebook then, beneath the sleeping dragon. Or not so sleeping. The eyes were watching him in their angry narrow way.

"Hello Mr. Kitty," Tobi began using the most childish voice he had.

The cat responded with a low growl and promptly extended one paw towards Tobi. It unsheathed its claws and dragged backwards, ripping the comforter.

"Tobi doesn't want to die!" Tobi screamed, slamming the bedroom door shut and taking off outside.

* * *

"This is not looking good for us," Kisame whispered at the ultra-top secret meeting convened while Sakura was walking around the overly large sculpture of some town hero. "Poor Hidan." All eyes watched as he carried the cooler full of water around behind Sakura. She hadn't let him go yet.

"She knows Hidan is our most successful weapon against the demon, which means that it needs to be our sole priority to protect our greatest asset. Hidan needs to avoid Sakura at all costs. Tobi, you're on decoy duty."

"Tobi has a question, Itachi."

"Hn?"

"Tobi doesn't have to go back into the room does he? Tobi is scared, he doesn't want to go back."

A loud knock sounded at the door making everyone jump.

"Hey!" Tobi screamed out, "That's rude, we are trying to have a top secret- mrphf!"

Itachi had reached underneath the mask to cut off Tobi's words. He unlocked the door and smiled at the pink haired woman. "Hey Sakura, we were just starting to worry about where you were."

"Sure you were." She looked behind him, at the others gathered in the room. Her nose twitched and then she hit them all with the look. She'd caught them all in the act. Without giving saying another word she walked into the bedroom and then withdrew with her notebook in her hands. She returned to her seat at the kitchen booth. She gave them one more look, and it was enough to send everyone out of the vehicle.

"Enough of this nonsense," Pein growled, snatching the paper from Itachi. He glanced at the page before shredding it and disposing of it in the nearest trashbin. "I'm taking the role of leader. Those plans would have never worked." His gaze stared through Itachi, "Really, you sent Tobi in to face off with Jashin?"

"Well I figured that maybe even with medication he migh-"

"Tobi was terrified!" Tobi cried.

"We're bringing out the big guns," Pein cut off the noise. "Kisame, you're going in. Itachi, you're on deck."

Konan patted Kisame's shoulder and he looked at her with hope. "Off you go," she said with a push and he dipped his head in sad submission.

He walked up to the motorcoach and gave a knock before entering. He made his way up the stairs and took a seat across from Sakura. "Hey~" He started.

"Kisame," Sakura looked up, giving Kisame a dead stare. "Try anything and when we get home I will break your kitchenaid in half."

"Sakura, I'm not going to-"

"In half, Kisame."

When Kisame opened the door, Itachi was leaning against the outside.

"All yours," Kisame said holding the door open and Itachi walked in.

Before he could even make it up the stairs and into her line of sight she spoke. "Itachi, I will personally make it my mission to find every picture of Sasuke you own and cut his head out." At the silence she then sighed and continued, "Go and get everybody so we can get back on the road."

The ride was eerily quiet. Konan and Pein had both attempted to reason with Sakura - but they were cut short with a dark look and her logical explanation that not even Pein liked people touching his desk, so why should she let someone touch her notebook.

Even Deidara and Sasori's unison attack did little damage, possibly because instead of attacking her they ended up fighting and bickering amongst themselves.

Surprisingly it was Kakuzu who was able to lay claim to the notebook. When she'd gotten up to go to the bathroom, notebook in hand, she'd been paying more attention to Itachi than anyone else. All it took was Kakuzu to stick his foot out to get her to stumble, loosening her grip on the notebook. He took that opportunity to snatch the book, while Sakura continued her descent to to the floor.

He flipped open the book, eyes pouring over what she had done. "This isn't a plan for world domination…" he sounded a bit disappointed.

Sakura shot up, glaring, "What? You thought I had a plan for world domination?"

He tossed the notebook to Sasori, who caught it with ease.

"Hey give it -" the look on Sasori's face made her shut her lips.

His brown eyes looked at her in raw irritation, before they returned to the page. His lips twitched downward into a scowl. He quickly flipped through the pages before closing the notebook. "You kept this from us?" his voice was filled with accusation.

"Its not mine," she said quietly, feeling a bit lost at his anger.

"So you're working on this for Lightening Fox?" his voice going from irritated to angry.

"No! Of course not," now she was the one getting angry at the accusation.

"Then who is it for?"

"Me," she reached to grab it but Itachi had longer range.

He picked the notebook from Sasori's grasp and it only took him a second on page one to realize who's work it truly was. His eyes drifted from the page to her.

Sakura's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she bowed. "I'm sorry!" She felt like crying at Itachi's masked expression.

"So the song is yours, Itachi?"

"The words are mine, the composition is hers," he kept his tone even and it reminded her of how he spoke to Sasuke. "What were you planning to do with this? Were you going to give it to Lightening Fox?"

She gasped at his accusation, it stung her deeply. "No! It needed music! It was a personal project. No one else was supposed to even know about it, no one was _ever_ supposed to know about it. I'm not that kind of person. And I'm done with Lightening Fox!" She wanted to snatch the book back, but knew it wasn't really hers to begin with. Instead she flew from the main living area and into the master bedroom.

"Why wouldn't she tell us about this?" Sasori asked, sitting down a bit dumbfounded. "What else are we supposed to think?"

"Maybe she doesn't trust her skills," Kisame said, thinking carefully.

"Maybe she doesn't trust us," Itachi said, emotionless mask in place. He slammed the notebook on the counter and followed Sakura's path.

The second he opened the door she turned on him.

"This is your fault!" She accused.

His eyes narrowed, "How is this my fault?"

"If you had just written stupid music to the pieces in the first place I wouldn't have had to try to make it up!"

"Excuse me?" he asked her, clearly annoyed at her trying to turn the tables on him.

"You can't just leave something that good unfinished!"

"What were you planning to do with the music?" Itachi asked.

"I told you, nothing! It was only for me to listen to - no one else!"

His brows touched in confusion, "You were never going to tell any of us?"

"No."

His glare hardened, "Why not?"

"Because - it wasn't mine to begin with. It is your song, not mine," Sakura said, her anger dying. She was the one in the wrong here.

His hand clenched into a fist, "But why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Because I never should have touched it or tried to do the music in the first place. It was your song."

"I don't care about it being my song!" He said, raising his voice. It was the first time Sakura had ever heard Itachi yell (minus his performances). She took a step back, not quite understanding.

"Are we not friends?" His voice dropped back down and he asked her with all sincerity.

"Of course we are friends."

"If they had been Naruto's lyrics, would you have told him?"

His question made her freeze. Yes. She would have told Naruto. She would have ran screaming to him the moment she had finished the first piece, or they would have sat down and written it together. Guilt filled her stomach and she could barely meet his eyes, but when she did she could see the sadness in them.

"Are we really friends?" he asked again.

Perhaps she really didn't know where she stood with them. She still didn't know them well enough to know how they would react to what she would tell them. Naruto was easy to read and they'd been friends since kindergarten. Things she would do with Naruto, she would never dare with the person in front of her because she wasn't sure. Sure she was friendly with those in Red Clouds, but there were certain lines where she didn't know if she could cross.

She then saw what she had done from his perspective, from the band's perspective. They'd given everything, it seemed like, to her. They'd never hidden anything and yet she been so unwilling to give. They must have been more hurt than she was.

He moved forward and brushed at her cheek. She hadn't even realized she'd started crying. "I'm so sorry," she said. She hugged him, pressing her head against his chest. "I'm such an ass. I'm so sorry."

When he hugged her back she only sobbed harder, between breaths she continued to apologize. She finally pulled back and looked up, "Am I going to be able to make this up to you?"

"Would you be able to make this up with Naruto?"

She nodded.

"How long would such a make up take?" His eyes softened.

A second at best. She gave a half smile as she faked a punch to his stomach which he caught. "You don't want our relationship to be like Naruto's and mine."

His head tilted slightly, "And why is that?"

She smiled, "He's been friend zoned for years."

His facial expression relaxed finally and his usual smirk returned to his face. "So you don't want me friend zoned?" he teased.

She faked another punch to get him to move back and she walked from the room to apologize to everyone else. The door shut. Itachi hadn't seen Sakura shut the door so he glanced curiously to the floor. Between him and the door sat a very hairless cat. The cat seemed to smile wickedly and its tail gave a twitch in anticipation.

* * *

She apologized sincerely to the rest of the band before they had a chance to even speak. The words had gushed out and at silence she finally raised her head. There was no anger on Sasori's face, but all of them seemed to have a thoughtful look. But they weren't looking at her. In fact, all but Pein (who was driving) hadn't even glanced up from the papers in their hands.

The papers in her notebook had been ripped out and copied on the small machine they had in the living area for Kakuzu's receipts. They were scanning through her music, and Sasori already had a pen out, making adjustments.

"You wrote Safe Haven, didn't you?" Sasori asked, not looking up.

Safe Haven was one of the few songs for Lightning Fox that had been solely hers. While it wasn't the best seller by any means, it was still one of her better accomplishments. It had lacked the popish feel of the rest of the band's music, but music critics had given it better reviews than the majority of the female fanbase. "Yeah, it was a long time ago though."

Sasori made a hum in the back of his throat, "Your style hasn't changed." His hands moved quickly as he went over the music. "I think your part would be better on the cello," he told Kisame.

"I was thinking the same," Kisame replied, and Sakura noted he had his own piece of paper nearby and had begun transcribing a part to a different clef.

"Can you still play a bassoon, Deidara?"

"Pff, of course. Its the only good instrument in the world."

"Itachi, how long-" Sasori looked up, "Where is Itachi?"

Several pounding noises came from the bedroom and a loud yowl came from a cat. The bedroom door opened and then slammed shut. Itachi came to the living area, several large scratches on his face, his eyes narrowed at Hidan. "One of these days, I'm going to kill your cat," he hissed.

Hidan immediately ran by Itachi and to his cat's aid. "Jashin, are you o-"

Another yowl and screams echoed in the small confined space.

Itachi opened a cabinet and grabbed out the rubbing alcohol and began dabbing his face. He gave a quick glance at everyone, who besides Sakura, was busy assembly the piece.

"So," Sasori began, noting Itachi's return, "how long have you been holding out on us, Itachi?" Sasori tapped Itachi's notebook, which instead of sitting on the table where Itachi left it, was on top of Sasori's puppet case.

Itachi's lips pursed, "They're not necessarily our normal type of music."

"Tobi is sad. Tobi thought Itachi was writing a love story about him and Sakura, where Itachi and Kisame were police officers who take on a serial killer who threatens Sakura's life. The rest of us are supporting cast and Tobi gets to own a candy store."

"Huh?" Sakura questioned, eyebrows raising.

The rest chose to ignore Tobi. To which Tobi again muttered, "Tobi thought it was a good idea."

"I don't like being normal," Sasori said, in reply to Itachi's statement and it seemed to settle the matter.

The rest of the day was spent on composition. Everyone was busy with something, be it transcribing a part or making adjustments. Sakura knew her work wasn't perfect, but found herself surprised when she didn't take offense to Sasori and Itachi changing a major line in a melody or finding a different harmony. They worked well together, but what surprised her more was how they incorporated her opinion into it.

Eventually she found herself falling asleep, and when Itachi woke her up, everyone but Konan and Pein (the drivers) were nowhere to be found. She yawned and stretched. She looked up at Itachi, he seemed worn out.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she got out of her seat.

He leaned forward and kissed the top of her forehead, pulling back before she could react. "I'm tired, but it is a good tired."

He turned then and began walking down the hallway. "Have a good night, Sakura." He gave a backhanded wave as he made his way to his bunk.

Sakura quickly caught his arm though and tugged him down to her level. "By the way, Itachi, I'm honored that I get to work with you."

He blinked, but before he could reply she kissed his cheek.

His usual smirk returned to his face, but before he could do anything perverted, a blue hand shot out from drapery of the closest bunk bed. It shot right in between them, to separate the two. "Bed time, love birds," Kisame said.

Sakura blushed, realizing the entire conversation had probably been overheard by everyone on the bus. "Night."

It was only several seconds in heading to her own bunk that she whipped around. "Oh, and just so you all know. Hypothetically, if I were to ever plan to dominate the world - you all would be the last to suspect a thing."

The silence hung heavy in the air as she climbed into her bunk. It was going to be a long six months, but perhaps with everyone busy it wouldn't be half as crazy - not that crazy was a bad thing.

* * *

_Thank you for reading this through, if you have the time I would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far. I hope you enjoyed and for those of you who have reviewed - thank you! _


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